VOA常速英语2008年-Rebel Northern Ivory Coast Towns Run Out of Gas

By Nancy Palus
Dakar
28 March 2008

Several northern towns in rebel-held Ivory Coast have run out of gasoline in recent days. In some areas, street vendors¹ are selling black market fuel at up to six times the normal price. Nancy Palus reports from VOA's West Africa bureau in Dakar.

A taxi driver in the northwestern town of Odienne tells VOA the gasoline shortage is hitting people hard.

Samuel Koffi says, when his taxi runs out of gas, he will just push it to his home and stop working. He says, even if he finds black market fuel at three or four times the normal price, it is not practical, because, he says, as it is, people have a hard time paying taxi fares, and he cannot ask them to pay more.

In Odienne, Korhogo and other cities in northern Ivory Coast, gasoline has been hard to come by for four days now. Some vendors are selling what they had in reserve, or they are buying fuel in other cities to sell, but at higher prices.

This is the part of Ivory Coast that was taken over by rebels in 2002. Officials from a power-sharing government are now gradually returning to the north, but it is still the rebels, known as the New Forces, who control the movement of fuel and other goods.

Residents of Korhogo and Odienne say there have been periodic gasoline shortages since the 2002 rebellion. Fuel for these towns has come from Togo and Benin, crossing into Ivory Coast overland from Burkina Faso. But residents of the border town in Niangoloko in Burkina Faso say they are seeing a shortage of fuel in the area as well.

In Korhogo, Issouf Ouattara, who is in charge of social services in the town for the New Forces, told VOA they do not know what has caused the gasoline shortages.

Ouattara says businesses and aid organizations there have been calling him to find out why gasoline has run out. He says much of Korhogo has come to a standstill.

He says the roads are practically empty. He says many people who need their motorcycles or cars to get to work are stuck.

Ouattara says street vendors are selling one liter of gasoline for 3,000 CFA Francs, the local currency, or the equivalent of about $7. That is about six times the normal price.

In Korhogo and Odienne, residents say ambulances are not affected² by the gasoline shortages, because they use diesel³ fuel.

1 vendors   

n.摊贩( vendor的名词复数 )；小贩；（房屋等的）卖主；卖方

参考例句：

• The vendors were gazundered at the last minute. 卖主在最后一刻被要求降低房价。
• At the same time, interface standards also benefIt'software vendors. 同时，界面标准也有利于软件开发商。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

2 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

3 diesel   

n.柴油发动机，内燃机

参考例句：

• We experimented with diesel engines to drive the pumps.我们试着用柴油机来带动水泵。
• My tractor operates on diesel oil.我的那台拖拉机用柴油开动。