VOA标准英语2008年-US War Crimes Envoy Hails Karadzic Arrest

The U.S. State Department's top expert on war crimes issues is welcoming Serbia's arrest of former Bosnian-Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, and says it bodes¹ well for the Belgrade government's future in Europe. Ambassador Clint Williamson says the arrest should be worrisome for former Bosnian-Serb military chief Ratko Mladic, who is still at large. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.

Karadzic, indicted² by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity, was considered Europe's most- wanted man.

His apprehension³ in Serbia after 13 years on the run was especially satisfying for Williamson, the U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues - a career federal prosecutor⁴ who worked on the Yugoslavia tribunal staff for seven years.

In an interview with VOA, Williamson said the four-year war in Bosnia-Herzegovina which began in 1992 was very much driven by the agenda of Karadzic, who used a campaign of ethnic⁵ cleansing⁶ against Muslims and Croats to stake out his Serb mini-state:

"He set up detention⁷ camps were people were kept in just the most horrible conditions, engaged in the siege of Sarajevo, where shells were continuously poured into the city, where snipers fired on civilians⁸ trying to go about their daily business," said Clint Williamson. "And then throughout the country there were many, many episodes of mass killings⁹, where forces under his command attacked civilians and in order to drive them out, to eliminate their presence, just killed them by the thousands."

The arrest of Karadzic came just days after a commemoration in Bosnia - attended by Williamson - of the most notorious single criminal act of the war, the 1995 massacre¹⁰ of some eight thousand Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica, a U.N. safe area overrun by Serb forces.

The U.S. envoy¹¹ said NATO forces who intervened to end the war in 1996 probably had chances to capture Karadzic early-on but failed to do so and he went underground - hiding in Bosnia and later Serbia, presumably with some measure of official protection.

Williamson said the turning point in the case was clearly the assumption of power earlier this month of a new pro-Western government in Belgrade, which he said stands to benefit politically from arresting Karadzic and turning away from the country's violent recent past.

"His arrest is going to have a huge impact," he said. "Serbian integration¹² into the EU, into NATO has been stalled by the fact they have not been cooperative with the war crimes tribunal in the Hague, that they had not done everything that they could have to address these outstanding issues and in particular the arrest of fugitives¹³. So the fact they now have arrested one of the biggest-name fugitives, this I think is going to reflect very well on them."

The arrest of Karadzic leaves only his former military chief Ratko Mladic and another senior official of the Bosnian Serb enclave, Goran Hadzic, still at large. Williamson said Monday's arrest must be unsettling for Mladic, the alleged¹⁴ trigger-man for the Srebrenica killings.

"He's got to be a very nervous man today," said Williamson. "He also has been able to rest comfortably, I'm sure, thinking that the Serbian government was not going to move against him, and all that he had to do was remain in hiding and just tough it out a little bit longer, and that eventually the tribunal would close and he would be free. So I think this is a very worrying sign for him and for those who support him."

The Hague tribunal was to have completed its trials by the end of this year and all appeals of cases by 2010.

Williamson says he is confident of a consensus¹⁵ among member countries of the U.N. Security Council to extend the mandate¹⁶ as long as necessary to complete the Karadzic trial and remaining cases.

 

 

1 bodes   

v.预示，预告，预言( bode的第三人称单数 )；等待，停留( bide的过去分词 )；居住；（过去式用bided）等待

参考例句：

• This bodes ill for the failure of the programme. 这是那项计划有凶兆。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• This bodes him no good. 这对他是不祥之兆。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

2 indicted   

控告，起诉( indict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The senator was indicted for murder. 那位参议员被控犯谋杀罪。
• He was indicted by a grand jury on two counts of murder. 他被大陪审团以两项谋杀罪名起诉。

3 apprehension   

n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑

参考例句：

• There were still areas of doubt and her apprehension grew.有些地方仍然存疑，于是她越来越担心。
• She is a girl of weak apprehension.她是一个理解力很差的女孩。

4 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。

5 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。

6 cleansing   

n. 净化(垃圾) adj. 清洁用的 动词cleanse的现在分词

参考例句：

• medicated cleansing pads for sensitive skin 敏感皮肤药物清洗棉
• Soap is not the only cleansing agent. 肥皂并不是唯一的清洁剂。

7 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

8 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。

9 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。

10 massacre   

n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀

参考例句：

• There was a terrible massacre of villagers here during the war.在战争中，这里的村民惨遭屠杀。
• If we forget the massacre,the massacre will happen again!忘记了大屠杀，大屠杀就有可能再次发生！

11 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

12 integration   

n.一体化，联合，结合

参考例句：

• We are working to bring about closer political integration in the EU.我们正在努力实现欧盟內部更加紧密的政治一体化。
• This was the greatest event in the annals of European integration.这是欧洲统一史上最重大的事件。

13 fugitives   

n.亡命者，逃命者( fugitive的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Three fugitives from the prison are still at large. 三名逃犯仍然未被抓获。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Members of the provisional government were prisoners or fugitives. 临时政府的成员或被捕或逃亡。 来自演讲部分

14 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

15 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

16 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。