VOA常速英语2008年-Chadian Authorities Impose Curfew on Capital, O

By Nico Colombant
Dakar
07 February 2008

Chad's government has ordered a curfew for the capital and six provinces in the interior as its army tries to chase down rebels who nearly toppled the president. Opposition¹ leaders have been jailed in N'Djamena, while tens of thousands of civilians² have fled to Cameroon. VOA's Nico Colombant reports from our West, Central Africa bureau in Dakar.

The curfew will cover N'Djamena as well as eastern and northern provinces.

The decision came as military officials said soldiers were trying to hunt down rebels before they returned to their bases in Sudan.

The army says it controls all of Chad, but rebels say they still control northern, central and eastern parts. Some admit they are running out of fuel, ammunition³ and food, but say they could have taken power if France had not intervened militarily.

Some reports say a large convoy⁴ of rebels was believed to be located about 400 kilometers northeast of the capital.

The European Union had just begun deploying⁶ a peacekeeping force along Chad's border with Sudan when the rebel incursion started last week. An EU spokesman said those efforts are now expected to resume next week.

European officials say the aim of the force is to provide security for hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the fighting in Sudan's Darfur region, Chad and the Central African Republic. 3,700 peacekeepers are due to deploy⁵ in both Chad and the CAR.

Chadian President Idriss Deby says help is not coming soon enough.

Speaking on French private radio, he said it would have been nice if the European force had already been present. He says Chad's army has been trying to secure the refugee camps, and the effort has weakened its ability to defend the rest of the country against rebels.

During the interview, Mr. Deby called the rebels bandits, thieves, Islamic extremists and Sudanese-backed mercenaries who would probably attack again.

Chad's president also said that he is ready to pardon French aid workers, sentenced to eight years in jail in Chad, and then in France, over an attempted abduction of children, most from Chad. The aid workers say they believed the children were orphans⁷ from Darfur.

Mr. Deby's comments prompted lawyers for the jailed aid workers to make official pleas for their pardon.

He also said opposition leaders arrested during the fighting in the capital would have to face the law if they were trying to destabilize Chad as well.

Human rights groups have asked for their immediate⁸ release. Reed Brody from New York-based Human Rights Watch says it is unfortunate politics in Chad have become so confrontational⁹.

"War is not good. It is not good that it should be power factions¹⁰ fighting against each other," Brody said. "What is needed in Chad in addition to an immediate ceasefire and protection of civilians, ultimately is true democracy and ultimately some kind of sitting down which all elements of Chadian society from the north and from the south come together and work towards the benefit of a country that is one of the poorest on earth, despite the fact that they have found a significant amount of oil, that is not being used yet to help the people of the country."

On Thursday, the rebels released a statement saying France has a heavy responsibility in backing Mr. Deby, calling his government a dictatorial¹¹, repressive, corrupt¹² and illegal regime. Mr. Deby came to power in a coup¹³ in 1990 and changed the constitution to allow unlimited¹⁴ mandates¹⁵. His last election in 2006 was marred¹⁶ by accusations¹⁷ of widespread fraud.

France's government, which has a permanent military base in Chad, gave logistical, medical and surveillance support to Chad's president during the fighting, but denied rebel accusations that it engaged in combat operations.

The fighting left at least 160 people dead, many of them soldiers or rebels, and one-thousand injured, most of them civilians, according to aid workers.

Aid workers also say tens of thousands of residents who fled to Cameroon are now at the risk of a cholera¹⁸ epidemic¹⁹. Mr. Deby called on the refugees to return home. Rebels had previously²⁰ told civilians to flee saying they were preparing another attack.

Sudan denies it backs the Chadian rebels, and accuses Chad of backing rebels operating against Sudanese government forces in Darfur. A large African Union/United Nations force to be deployed²¹ in Darfur has faced delays amid resistance from Sudan's government.

1 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。

2 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

3 ammunition   

n.军火，弹药

参考例句：

• A few of the jeeps had run out of ammunition.几辆吉普车上的弹药已经用光了。
• They have expended all their ammunition.他们把弹药用光。

4 convoy   

vt.护送，护卫，护航；n.护送；护送队

参考例句：

• The convoy was snowed up on the main road.护送队被大雪困在干路上了。
• Warships will accompany the convoy across the Atlantic.战舰将护送该船队过大西洋。

5 deploy   

v.（军）散开成战斗队形，布置，展开

参考例句：

• The infantry began to deploy at dawn.步兵黎明时开始进入战斗位置。
• The president said he had no intention of deploying ground troops.总统称并不打算部署地面部队。

6 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。

7 orphans   

孤儿( orphan的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The poor orphans were kept on short commons. 贫苦的孤儿们吃不饱饭。
• Their uncle was declared guardian to the orphans. 这些孤儿的叔父成为他们的监护人。

8 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

9 confrontational   

adj.挑衅的；对抗的

参考例句：

• Fans love rappers partly because they strike such a confrontational pose. 乐迷热爱这些饶舌艺人一定程度上是因为他们所采取的那种战斗姿态。 来自互联网
• You prefer a non confrontational approach when it comes to resolving disputes. 面对争端，你不喜欢采用对抗性的手段来解决。 来自互联网

10 factions   

组织中的小派别，派系( faction的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The gens also lives on in the "factions." 氏族此外还继续存在于“factions〔“帮”〕中。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
• rival factions within the administration 政府中的对立派别

11 dictatorial   

adj. 独裁的，专断的

参考例句：

• Her father is very dictatorial.她父亲很专横。
• For years the nation had been under the heel of a dictatorial regime.多年来这个国家一直在独裁政权的铁蹄下。

12 corrupt   

v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的

参考例句：

• The newspaper alleged the mayor's corrupt practices.那家报纸断言市长有舞弊行为。
• This judge is corrupt.这个法官贪污。

13 coup   

n.政变；突然而成功的行动

参考例句：

• The monarch was ousted by a military coup.那君主被军事政变者废黜了。
• That government was overthrown in a military coup three years ago.那个政府在3年前的军事政变中被推翻。

14 unlimited   

adj.无限的，不受控制的，无条件的

参考例句：

• They flew over the unlimited reaches of the Arctic.他们飞过了茫茫无边的北极上空。
• There is no safety in unlimited technological hubris.在技术方面自以为是会很危险。

15 mandates   

托管（mandate的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• Individual mandates would require all people to purchase health insurance. 个人托管要求所有人都要购买健康保险。
• While I agree with those benefits, I'm not a supporter of mandates. 我同意上述好处，我不是授权软件的支持者。

16 marred   

adj. 被损毁, 污损的

参考例句：

• The game was marred by the behaviour of drunken fans. 喝醉了的球迷行为不轨，把比赛给搅了。
• Bad diction marred the effectiveness of his speech. 措词不当影响了他演说的效果。

17 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

18 cholera   

n.霍乱

参考例句：

• The cholera outbreak has been contained.霍乱的发生已被控制住了。
• Cholera spread like wildfire through the camps.霍乱在营地里迅速传播。

19 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

20 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

21 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。