VOA标准英语2008年-Rich-Poor Divide Grows in Equatorial Guinea's C

By Nico Colombant
Malabo, Equatorial Guinea
13 May 2008

With rising oil prices, oil exporters like the lightly-populated central African country of Equatorial Guinea, are awash with new revenue. Here, a new modern capital called Malabo II is being built, but many living in nearby slums without piped water or electricity feel left out. VOA's Nico Colombant reports on the growing divide between rich and poor in sub-Saharan Africa's third biggest oil producer.

 

On a hill overlooking the capital on the island of Bioko, construction workers dig into asphalt they are rearranging for a road that leads to a new bridge, next to a new stadium, conference center, government buildings, parliament and presidential palace.

But in a slum not far away, a woman is angry because the water pipe she usually accesses behind her shed is not working for a third straight day.

Clothes pile up in a muddy heap. Children run naked.

The woman refuses to give her name or a full interview.

She says it is obvious she has nothing at all. "Nothing, nothing," she repeats.

People are afraid to speak here. When giving accreditation¹ to foreign journalists, officials at the Information and Tourism Ministry² say slums are off limits, and that only tourist areas can be photographed.

The overall population here is estimated between 500,000 and one million, with most people still living in poverty, even though the country has one of the world's highest per-capita incomes.

A ruling party spokesman said foreigners like to exaggerate problems. He did not want to be recorded, but he explained he was very proud of all the roads that are being built across Equatorial Guinea.

The National Director of the Central African States Bank, Mariola Bindang Obiang, agreed to an interview. But she refused to give the percentage of money at the bank that comes from Equatorial Guinea.

"Equatorial Guinea has a very important percentage of the resources within the pool right now," she said. "But in terms of percentage, it is not wise for me to go ahead and speak about percentages."

The Equatorial Guinea fund is believed to represent more than half the total in the bank, when it was just a fraction of a percent before the oil boom started in the mid-1990s.

The bank serves the six central African countries that form the Economic and Monetary³ Community of Central Africa; the Central African Republic, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo.

Obiang is more comfortable speaking about the government's long-term plan for development.

"The big challenge actually is how the oil revenue can get to everybody," she explained. " I think that is why the government had the conference that it had in Bata last year in November to make the development strategy for Equatorial Guinea up to 2020. I mean that document, the economic policy the government is going to follow, is very well described. The purpose of that is trying to get all sectors⁵ of the economy to get the resources that are created by the oil sector⁴."

She says since the oil sector brings cash, but not very many jobs, the government has to figure out how to target more labor-intensive sectors for investment.

"What we will do now is see, since the conference took place in Bata, up to the following year, how what is described in this document will be implemented⁶ in the different sectors of the economy," she said. "I think in that way the revenues that are being produced in the oil sector will get to the rest of the population."

At a recent political rally in Malabo, the opposition⁷ complained that a small minority in power, starting with long-time President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, controls most of the oil wealth.

The opposition complains that government development programs are geared too much toward vanity projects, like preparing summits and sports events, rather than bringing water, education, and better health to the poorest areas.

But the ruling party won 99 out of 100 parliament seats and most seats in municipal bodies as well in recent elections, meaning the opposition has virtually no say or control on where and how the new oil money is being spent.

One foreign diplomat⁸ also complained that decisions on how to spend revenue are very state driven and not market-oriented.

1 accreditation   

n.委派，信赖，鉴定合格

参考例句：

• a letter of accreditation 一份合格证明书
• This paper gives an overview of the Verification, Validation and Accreditation (VV&A) in High Level Architecture(HLA). 对基于高层体系结构(High Level Architecture,简称HLA)的仿真系统的校核、验证与确认(Verification, Validation and Accreditation,简称VV&A)问题进行了详细的介绍及分析。 来自互联网

2 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

3 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

4 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

5 sectors   

n.部门( sector的名词复数 )；领域；防御地区；扇形

参考例句：

• Berlin was divided into four sectors after the war. 战后柏林分成了4 个区。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Industry and agriculture are the two important sectors of the national economy. 工业和农业是国民经济的两个重要部门。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 implemented   

v.实现( implement的过去式和过去分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• This agreement, if not implemented, is a mere scrap of paper. 这个协定如不执行只不过是一纸空文。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The economy is in danger of collapse unless far-reaching reforms are implemented. 如果不实施影响深远的改革，经济就面临崩溃的危险。 来自辞典例句

7 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。

8 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。