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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Nairobi
24 January 2008
The two rivals in Kenya's political crisis met on Thursday for the first time since a disputed election and pledged to seek an end to weeks of unrest that have killed nearly 700 people. President Mwai Kibaki and opposition1 leader Raila Odinga shook hands and smiled after the closed-door talks, brokered2 by former U.N. chief Kofi Annan. Both vowed3 to continue talks until a solution was found. VOA Correspondent Alisha Ryu in Nairobi has this report.
The news of the meeting between the two bitter rivals came hours after President Kibaki held talks with former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who is leading an African Union mediation4 mission.
Late Wednesday, the opposition agreed to Mr. Annan's request to cancel a mass protest planned for Thursday in the Kenyan capital. Previous protests, banned by the government, have been marked by violent clashes between opposition supporters and the police.
The opposition accuses Mr. Kibaki of rigging the December 27 presidential election to stay in power for a second five-year term and has demanded the president's resignation and a fresh vote. The government has ruled out new elections and says complaints about the electoral process should go through the courts.
Mr. Kibaki has said he is open to talks with his rival, but has repeatedly dismissed the need for international mediation. Raila Odinga has demanded that outside mediators intervene in the political crisis.
Mr. Kibaki's meeting with the former U.N. chief was reportedly delayed a day to allow the president to spend more time with a close ally in the region, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who arrived separately in Nairobi two days ago to negotiate an agreement between the government and the opposition.
Mr. Museveni's press officer says the Ugandan leader has held talks with both sides and has proposed several options to end the dispute, including a deal to share power, establish a judicial5 commission of inquiry6 into the allegations of fraud in the vote-counting process, and launch an investigation7 into vicious ethnic8-based killings9 that the government says were planned and orchestrated by leaders in the opposition Orange Democratic Movement, ODM, party.
That accusation10 was bolstered11 by a report the New York-based Human Rights Watch released on Wednesday. The group says it has found evidence that ODM leaders and local elders incited12 and organized ethnic attacks, mainly on members of President Kibaki's ethnic Kikuyu tribe, in Kenya's western Rift13 Valley.
For decades, the Rift Valley has been a hotbed of tribal14 tensions over land rights. Those tensions boiled over in the aftermath of the disputed elections, because most non-Kikuyus voted for Raila Odinga, who belongs to the rival Luo tribe.
One of the authors of the rights group's report, Ben Rawlence, tells VOA there is no evidence directly linking top opposition politicians to the violence in the Rift Valley. But he says he believes the party's leadership did not do enough to stop ODM leaders at the grassroots level from carrying out their plans.
"In western Kenya, everybody who is anybody is essentially15 ODM, because political and community structures pretty much overlap," he explained. "The people were primed before the elections with a lot of incitement16, a lot of very dubious17 radio rhetoric18 and rhetoric during political rallies and campaigning so that a lot of people we spoke19 to said, 'If Kibaki wins, it is war, no matter how Kibaki won.' So, there already was a sense that they were going to deal with the Kikuyus one way or another."
Human Rights Watch says a quick political settlement is necessary to stop the ethnic violence, but warns it could take decades to reconcile the tribes.
1 opposition | |
n.反对,敌对 | |
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2 brokered | |
adj.由权力经纪人安排(或控制)的v.做掮客(或中人等)( broker的过去式和过去分词 );作为权力经纪人进行谈判;以中间人等身份安排… | |
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3 vowed | |
起誓,发誓(vow的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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4 mediation | |
n.调解 | |
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5 judicial | |
adj.司法的,法庭的,审判的,明断的,公正的 | |
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6 inquiry | |
n.打听,询问,调查,查问 | |
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7 investigation | |
n.调查,调查研究 | |
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8 ethnic | |
adj.人种的,种族的,异教徒的 | |
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9 killings | |
谋杀( killing的名词复数 ); 突然发大财,暴发 | |
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10 accusation | |
n.控告,指责,谴责 | |
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11 bolstered | |
v.支持( bolster的过去式和过去分词 );支撑;给予必要的支持;援助 | |
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12 incited | |
刺激,激励,煽动( incite的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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13 rift | |
n.裂口,隙缝,切口;v.裂开,割开,渗入 | |
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14 tribal | |
adj.部族的,种族的 | |
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15 essentially | |
adv.本质上,实质上,基本上 | |
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16 incitement | |
激励; 刺激; 煽动; 激励物 | |
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17 dubious | |
adj.怀疑的,无把握的;有问题的,靠不住的 | |
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18 rhetoric | |
n.修辞学,浮夸之言语 | |
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19 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 | |
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