2007年VOA标准英语-UN Agencies Need Money to Help Burundi Refugees

By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
14 August 2007

The World Food Program and U.N. refugee agency are appealing for $20 million to help tens of thousands of Burundi refugees return home after years of exile in Tanzania. They warn that food rations¹ for Burundians will have to be cut across the board, in both Tanzania and Burundi, to make the food stretch until the end of the year if new funds are not available. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from Geneva.

A refugee Burundian woman peers out of the window of her bus at the Mtabila camp in western Tanzania (File)

Many of the 149,000 Burundian refugees living in Tanzania want to go home now that peace has been restored in their country. But these refugees have few or no resources and will need help to restart their lives upon their return.

The two U.N. agencies warn the repatriation³ operation is likely to collapse⁴ without additional funds. World Food Program spokesman Simon Pluess says food assistance for the returnees and for 815,000 hungry people in Burundi are in jeopardy⁵ because the World Food Program is low on cash.

"The period is good for Burundian refugees to go home because security has improved significantly," said Pluess. "And what refugees tell us is that if the food security situation is good and the prospects⁶ are good, then the prospects for returning refugees are much better and there is a much higher chance that they can actually reinsert in their communities again."

Pluess says returning refugees receive a two-month ration² as they start their journey in Tanzania. He says they are given vouchers⁷, which they can exchange for the remaining four-month supply due to them when they get close to their homes in Burundi.

The U.N. agencies say the funding crunch⁸ is coming at the same time the Government of Tanzania is pushing for more refugees to return home.

U.N. refugee agency spokeswoman Jennifer Pagonis rejects a suggestion that Tanzania's government might deport⁹ the refugees.

"I think what the Tanzanian authorities are saying is that Burundi is peaceful now and these people have been in Tanzania for a considerable period of time and they would like them to return back if the country is peaceful," said Pagonis.

"Obviously, if they do not have enough food there or they feel very uncertain about the circumstances that they are going back to, that they are not going to have enough to eat, they are not going to have crops to plant, then that is something that WFP and UNHCR can work together on to try and make that possible," she added. 

More than 340,000 refugees have returned voluntarily to Burundi since 2002. In 1972 and again in 1993, inter-ethnic violence forced hundreds of thousands of Burundians to flee to neighboring countries.

Tanzania has provided refuge to those refugees for more than three decades. Tanzania hosts nearly one half million refugees from Burundi and the Congo, making it one of the largest asylum¹⁰ countries in Africa.

1 rations   

定量( ration的名词复数 )； 配给量； 正常量； 合理的量

参考例句：

• They are provisioned with seven days' rations. 他们得到了7天的给养。
• The soldiers complained that they were getting short rations. 士兵们抱怨他们得到的配给不够数。

2 ration   

n.定量(pl.)给养，口粮；vt.定量供应

参考例句：

• The country cut the bread ration last year.那个国家去年削减面包配给量。
• We have to ration the water.我们必须限量用水。

3 repatriation   

n.遣送回国，归国

参考例句：

• The Volrep programme is the preferred means of repatriation. 政府认为自愿遣返计划的遣返方法较为可取。 来自互联网
• Arrange the cargo claiming and maritime affairs,crews repatriation,medical treatment,traveling so on. （六）洽办货物理赔，船舶海事处理，办理船员遣返，就医，旅游等。 来自互联网

4 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

5 jeopardy   

n.危险；危难

参考例句：

• His foolish behaviour may put his whole future in jeopardy.他愚蠢的行为可能毁了他一生的前程。
• It is precisely at this juncture that the boss finds himself in double jeopardy.恰恰在这个关键时刻，上司发现自己处于进退两难的境地。

6 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。

7 vouchers   

n.凭证( voucher的名词复数 )；证人；证件；收据

参考例句：

• These vouchers are redeemable against any future purchase. 这些优惠券将来购物均可使用。
• This time we were given free vouchers to spend the night in a nearby hotel. 这一次我们得到了在附近一家旅馆入住的免费券。 来自英语晨读30分（高二）

8 crunch   

n.关键时刻；艰难局面；v.发出碎裂声

参考例句：

• If it comes to the crunch they'll support us.关键时刻他们是会支持我们的。
• People who crunch nuts at the movies can be very annoying.看电影时嘎吱作声地嚼干果的人会使人十分讨厌。

9 deport   

vt.驱逐出境

参考例句：

• We deport aliens who slip across our borders.我们把偷渡入境的外国人驱逐出境。
• More than 240 England football fans are being deported from Italy following riots last night.昨晚的骚乱发生后有240多名英格兰球迷被驱逐出意大利。

10 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。