2007年VOA标准英语-Ethiopian President Hopeful for Peace in Somali

By Kane Farabaugh
New York City
07 March 2007
 
watch Ethiopian President Hopeful

Ethiopian President Girma Woldegiorgis

In the wake of Ethiopia's military action in Somalia to remove Islamist forces from Mogadishu, Ethiopian President Girma Woldegiorgis says he hopes a power sharing agreement in Somalia will bring wider peace to the Horn of Africa.  VOA's Kane Farabaugh has more from the United Nations in New York where President Woldegiorgis spoke¹ to VOA.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991. Troops from Somalia's neighbor Ethiopia renewed hopes of restoring order to the wartorn country when they ousted² Islamist forces from Mogadishu in December. 

Ethiopian President Girma Woldegiorgis admits that restoring the U.N. backed interim³ government in Somalia is only the first step in a difficult peace process. "It's not easy after 15 years of no governance to come up and put [establish] order straight away.  But we've got a wise way of involving the ex-fighters and warlords and other institutions that are important in power sharing through negotiation⁴, and there could be peace soon. They cannot get peace unless they negotiate and agree in power sharing, and they cannot develop their country without stability and peace and they need to do that."

As President Woldegiorgis gave this interview, media reports indicated that African Union troops were arriving in the Somali town of Baidoa.

Ugandan Army spokesman Major Felix Kulaigye tells VOA that a top commander of the A.U. peacekeeping force is Ugandan.  But he says despite media reports, the rest of the A.U. troops in Somalia are not Ugandan.

The A.U. peacekeeping operation calls for an 8,000-strong force.  So far Uganda has offered 1,500 troops but, altogether, member countries have only pledged half of the number needed.

President Woldegiorgis says they need time, "I don't know if one could blame them. It didn't happen according to program, some incident has come in. They need time to work up the budget and get troops and so on."

Amid escalating⁵ violence in Mogadishu, A.U. representatives arrived in the capital this week for talks with the transitional federal government about the deployment⁶ of more troops.

While Ethiopia continues to play a part in the peace process, The New York Times newspaper reports that Ethiopia is also secretly collaborating⁷ with the United States.  The Times says Ethiopia is assisting the U.S. military in operations to target al-Qaida operatives in the Horn of Africa -- including inside Somalia.  The Ethiopian president repeated his government's position that the article is not true.

"I cannot tell you because I was not on the site.  I've heard it, and that's the way it was.  Ethiopia -- what has happened there could be a fabrication," says the president.

Girma Woldegiorgis finishes his six-year term as Ethiopia's president in October.  After he leaves office, he plans to continue helping⁸ organizations like ORBIS International continue their efforts in Ethiopia.  ORBIS is a non-profit organization dedicated⁹ to preventing avoidable blindness, which affects about one million people in Ethiopia.

1 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

2 ousted   

驱逐( oust的过去式和过去分词 )； 革职； 罢黜； 剥夺

参考例句：

• He was ousted as chairman. 他的主席职务被革除了。
• He may be ousted by a military takeover. 他可能在一场军事接管中被赶下台。

3 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

4 negotiation   

n.谈判，协商

参考例句：

• They closed the deal in sugar after a week of negotiation.经过一星期的谈判，他们的食糖生意成交了。
• The negotiation dragged on until July.谈判一直拖到7月份。

5 escalating   

v.（使）逐步升级( escalate的现在分词 )；（使）逐步扩大；（使）更高；（使）更大

参考例句：

• The cost of living is escalating. 生活费用在迅速上涨。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The cost of living is escalating in the country. 这个国家的生活费用在上涨。 来自辞典例句

6 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。

7 collaborating   

合作( collaborate的现在分词 )； 勾结叛国

参考例句：

• Joe is collaborating on the work with a friend. 乔正与一位朋友合作做那件工作。
• He was not only learning from but also collaborating with Joseph Thomson. 他不仅是在跟约瑟福？汤姆逊学习，而且也是在和他合作。

8 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

9 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。