VOA标准英语2008年-Kenya Refugees Describe Ethnic Attacks After El

By Nick Wadhams
Molo, Kenya
14 January 2008

Kenyan officials estimate that at least 250,000 Kenyans have fled their homes as a result of violence that broke out across the country after a presidential election last month that was seen as seriously flawed. For VOA, Nick Wadhams traveled to some of the hardest hit areas northwest of Nairobi to hear their stories.

A pastor¹ in the town of Molo preaches to hundred of refugees who fled violence that has wracked the country since the December 27 vote. About 300 refugees are within the walls of the church, where they are given blankets, a small amount of food and rudimentary shelter. Those with cars have brought the vehicles inside the compound for safety. Children play in the grass, and men tell the stories of the violence that surrounded them.

While the attacks have cut across the lines of Kenya's 42 tribes, most of the victims have been Kikuyu, like President Kibaki, who won a second five-year term in the flawed election.

David Njenga is a 25-year old student. He recounts what happened to him on New Year's Eve when boys with their faces painted red attacked his village outside Molo.

"After the announcement of the elections, they started that day, on Monday, chasing us, and they killed four men from our village," said Njenga. "We hid in the bush, then they came and burned the house. They paint their face with reddish colors so you cannot notice the person although those people, we know them because some of them we are living together in that village. We are friends."

Stories like Njenga's have become common across a swath of western Kenya since Mr. Kibaki was declared the winner of the vote, which international observers decried² as unfair.

The Kikuyu are Kenya's biggest tribe and make up about 20 percent of the population. President Kibaki has been accused of bestowing³ jobs, power and land upon Kikuyus, and his controversial victory over opposition⁴ candidate Raila Odinga sparked an angry backlash among other tribes, including Luos, Luhyas and Kalenjin.

Some opposition leaders have described the violence as a spontaneous outburst of rage from people furious that the election was stolen. Yet interviews in Molo and other areas northwest of Nairobi suggest that the attacks were coordinated⁵, and perhaps even planned.

People described a pattern that was echoed by many victims.

Young men, often with their faces painted red or white, arrived by truck and sheltered for a time at the home of a loyalist. They then fanned out and relied on neighbors of their victims to point out the homes to be torched. Those belonging to Kikuyus were destroyed, those belonging to others were left standing⁶.

Above Molo, a helicopter piloted by aid workers flies over looking for torched farms and pockets of Kenyans who suffered from the crisis. The violence has killed hundreds of people and forced at least 250,000 to flee their homes so far.

Atop a hill overlooking Molo sits the Apostolic Faith Church.

"The toilet is full, it's full, I've done what I can do, but God is giving us the assistance," said the church's pastor, Samuel Ciuga.

He saw the same thing during election time in 1992, 1997 and 2002. Each time, the church opened its doors to those fleeing the violence. At least 250 people have been living in his church compound for weeks. Some came after the election, and some came before, in response to violence that begun in the run-up to the vote.

Based on the accounts he has heard, Ciuga says he has no doubt that the attacks were planned.

"They are young men, very small boys, and they are in thousands, they are brought in trucks, and they are set out to go and invade certain communities, invade the Kikuyus, invade the farms," said Ciuga. "And they have been told to torch the houses because when you torch the houses, that person will not have anywhere to live."

"These young boys, we don't know them but they are trained. They just follow instructions, torch that house, even some have been promised, if you torch that house, you get 500," he added.

Many of the worst attacks have been further north of Molo, around the city of Eldoret. Eldoret is populated largely by the Kalenjin tribe, also the tribe of former President Daniel arap Moi. It was outside Eldoret where a church was torched just a few days after the election with at least 17 people inside, including many children who had taken refuge there with their parents. Witnesses said the Kalenjin were to blame.

Kalenjin with bows and arrows also manned roadblocks around Eldoret, stopping cars and searching for Kikuyus.

William Ruto is a senior adviser⁷ to Odinga, the opposition candidate. He is a Kalenjin who represents Eldoret North. He says that many of Kenya's ethnic⁸ groups have been angry that the country's wealth is believed to have been put in the hands of only a few.

Ruto and his fellow leaders with the Orange Democratic Movement have repeatedly called for their followers⁹ to be calm. Yet he has been singled out by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights as a leader who should be prosecuted¹⁰ for allegedly promulgating¹¹ hate speech prior to the election. He vehemently¹² denies the claim.

"I consider anybody who says that we did say anything to the effect that anybody should leave their homes absolute rubbish because there are no statements that we made along that line," said Ruto. "We were preparing ourselves to govern this country and we believe that time has been delayed for a little while but we will be governing this country shortly. Anybody who makes statements must be able to just [justify] those statements."

Even before the vote, Kenya had at least 250,000 internally displaced people -- mostly the result of ethnic clashes in the places they live. And now, whatever the cause, violence has once again put thousands of people on the roads to safer areas.

The lasting¹³ effect of the violence will not be known for some time. But several Kikuyu refugees said they would never return to areas where they once lived so long as they are not the majority. Most refugees -- from whichever ethnic group -- said they would not continue the violence, but, as one mother put it, for them the grudge¹⁴ is permanent.

1 pastor   

n.牧师，牧人

参考例句：

• He was the son of a poor pastor.他是一个穷牧师的儿子。
• We have no pastor at present:the church is run by five deacons.我们目前没有牧师：教会的事是由五位执事管理的。

2 decried   

v.公开反对，谴责( decry的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The measures were decried as useless. 这些措施受到指责，说是不起作用。
• The old poet decried the mediocrity of today's writing. 老诗人抨击了现代文体的平庸无奇。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

3 bestowing   

砖窑中砖堆上层已烧透的砖

参考例句：

• Apollo, you see, is bestowing the razor on the Triptolemus of our craft. 你瞧，阿波罗正在把剃刀赠给我们这项手艺的特里泼托勒默斯。
• What thanks do we not owe to Heaven for thus bestowing tranquillity, health and competence! 我们要谢谢上苍，赐我们的安乐、健康和饱暖。

4 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

5 coordinated   

adj.协调的

参考例句：

• The sound has to be coordinated with the picture. 声音必须和画面协调一致。
• The numerous existing statutes are complicated and poorly coordinated. 目前繁多的法令既十分复杂又缺乏快调。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

6 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

7 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

8 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

9 followers   

追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件

参考例句：

• the followers of Mahatma Gandhi 圣雄甘地的拥护者
• The reformer soon gathered a band of followers round him. 改革者很快就获得一群追随者支持他。

10 prosecuted   

a.被起诉的

参考例句：

• The editors are being prosecuted for obscenity. 编辑因刊载污秽文字而被起诉。
• The company was prosecuted for breaching the Health and Safety Act. 这家公司被控违反《卫生安全条例》。

11 promulgating   

v.宣扬（某事物）( promulgate的现在分词 )；传播；公布；颁布（法令、新法律等）

参考例句：

• While they promulgating the Christianity, English was also publicized in China. 他们在传教的同时，英语也在中国得到了广泛的传播。 来自互联网
• It is a philosophy of life, promulgating numerous and complicated existence. “生活艺术论”是林语堂文化观、人生观和审美观的集中体现。 来自互联网

12 vehemently   

adv. 热烈地

参考例句：

• He argued with his wife so vehemently that he talked himself hoarse. 他和妻子争论得很激烈，以致讲话的声音都嘶哑了。
• Both women vehemently deny the charges against them. 两名妇女都激烈地否认了对她们的指控。

13 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

14 grudge   

n.不满，怨恨，妒嫉；vt.勉强给，不情愿做

参考例句：

• I grudge paying so much for such inferior goods.我不愿花这么多钱买次品。
• I do not grudge him his success.我不嫉妒他的成功。