Intifada

Invasion of

to limit the rocket fire

mass killings; indiscriminate killing of civilians

military base

military offensive

mortar

to mount counterattacks

paramilitary troops

to patrol on a hair trigger

pullout; to pull back forces

to quell the unrest

to reach out to

rebel; to put down the rebel movement

to redeploy troops

refugee camp

riot

rocket; rocket fire

to rout insurgents from

to scale back an operation

to secede from

skirmish

strife

to take responsibility for the attack

target list

to tip over government vehicles

to withdraw the Jewish settlers

upsurge in to thwart insurgents

Ex. 1. Speak on the following:

1. Hot spots in the world.

2. Wars, conflicts, collisions: causes of war and solutions.

3. Wars: cold war, just war, wars of the third kind.

Ex. 2. Before reading the newspaper article below discuss in pairs what you think

It is about. Read the article and see if your ideas were correct.

Sudan and Southern Rebels Sign Pact to End Civil War

By MARC LACEY

NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec. 31 - The government of Sudan signed a preliminary peace accord on Friday night with a rebel group from the country's impoverished south that could end one of Africa's longest-running civil wars, even as the conflict in the western Darfur region continued.

Representatives for the two sides met at a resort on Lake Naivasha, in Kenya, and signed a power-sharing agreement that is intended to become a permanent cease-fire.

The war in Sudan's western Darfur region involves different rebels, however, and peace talks aimed at quelling that conflict have faltered.

Lt. Gen. Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir, Sudan's president, was on hand for Friday's signing ceremony, as was John Garang, the head of the Sudan People's Liberation Army. Under the agreement, he will soon become one of Mr. Bashir's vice presidents.

Also in attendance was President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, who committed assistance from his country and from the African Union to try to make the deal stick. "Africa begins the year 2005 on a very good footing," Mr. Mbeki said, adding, "Let's party!"

American officials said that bringing the southern rebels into the government could make it easier for Sudan to reach out to other rebel movements in the western part of the country.

Despite the grisly nature of the civil conflict in southern Sudan, which has taken two million lives through disease and starvation as well as violence, the more recent war in Darfur has come to overshadow it.

In Darfur, more than a million people have been driven from their homes over the last two years in what the American government has labeled genocide. The violence in Darfur began in early 2003 when two other rebel movements took up arms against the Sudan government.

Mr. Bashir's administration responded fiercely, unleashing Arab militias known as janjaweed on the region. Caught up in the conflict were black civilians, many of whom were driven from their land, raped, beaten or killed in the process.

"The tragedy in Darfur casts a shadow on this event, but that doesn't mean this agreement isn't a significant step forward," said Mark Bellemy, the American ambassador to Kenya. "This could help bring peace to other parts of the country."

The signing of a final agreement was put off until early January to resolve some remaining issues. But diplomats close to the talks said that major sticking points had been worked out and that Friday's signing ceremony was held because the government and the rebels wanted to honor the pledge they had made to the United Nations Security Council to end the war by year's end.

In talks that have stretched on for more than two years, the government and the southern rebels agreed to share political power and the region's oil wealth, merge their armies and hold a referendum in six years to give southerners, who are predominantly Christian, the right to decide to whether they wish to secede from the rest of Sudan, which is mainly Muslim.

Religion has been one of the driving forces of the war, though not the only one. Christians in the south first took up arms after the government in Khartoum, the Sudan capital, imposed Shariah, or strict Islamic law, on southerners.

The plight of Sudan's Christians has resonated in some American churches, where evangelical Christians have drawn attention to Sudan's war from their pulpits and kept pressure on President Bush since his first days in office.

Oil has also fueled the fighting. Sudan, which became independent on Jan. 1, 1956, has experienced only a decade of peace, from 1972 to 1983. It was during that period that Chevron discovered oil in the area straddling the country's north and south. Southern rebels took up arms in 1983, saying oil revenue was benefiting only the north.

American officials said the ending of one war would increase the chance of resolving the continuing war in Darfur, as well as other skirmishes involving armed groups elsewhere in Sudan.

A peace accord is really just the first step in bringing normal life back to southern Sudan, a region that has been devoid of virtually any development for a generation. It is an area awash in guns but without paved roads. Diseases that have been wiped out elsewhere in the world continue to fester in the remote villages of the south.

Even before Friday night's signing, news services reported that hundreds of southerners living in Khartoum were celebrating in the streets of the capital, unveiling rebel flags and shouting, "Welcome to the new Sudan."

(Source: New York Times, 2004)

Ex.3. Read the article and answer the following questions:

1. What could end the longest running civil wars?

2. Who contributed to the signing of an agreement?

3. What may be the prerequisite for a complete ending of the war?

4. What were the driving forces of the war?

5. What decisions were reached according to the agreement?

6. How did the population and the officilas react to the event?

7. What problems are to be settled in the country by the joint government?

Ex. 4. Read the article and explain the following phrases:

Africa begins the year 2005 on a very good footing, tragedy in Darfur casts a shadow on this event, to honor the pledge they had made to the United Nations Security Council, plight of Sudan's Christians has resonated in some American churches, a region that has been devoid of virtually any development for a generation.

Ex. 5. Choose the best definition for the word in italics in the sentences from the article:

1. Lt. Gen. Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir, Sudan's president, was on hand for Friday's signing ceremony, as was John Garang, the head of the Sudan People's Liberation Army.

a available b close c impossible

2. American officials said that bringing the southern rebels into the government could make it easier for Sudan to reach out to other rebel movements in the western part of the country.

a arrive b achieve c stretch out

3. Caught up in the conflict were black civilians, many of whom were driven from their land, raped, beaten or killed in the process.

a reached b involved c found

4. The signing of a final agreement was put off until early January to resolve some remaining issues.

a agreed b cancelled c accepted

5. But diplomats close to the talks said that major sticking points had been worked out and that Friday's signing ceremony was held.

a developed b calculated c discussed

6. In talks that have stretched on for more than two years, the government and the southern rebels agreed to share political power and the region's oil wealth, merge their armies and hold a referendum.

a happened b carried out c continued

7. Christians in the south first took up arms after the government in Khartoum, the Sudan capital, imposed Shariah, or strict Islamic law, on southerners.

A began to fight b gained control c started to employ

Ex. 6. Match the words from the article with their corresponding definitions:

1. Falter a a small platform in a church where a priest stands to speak to

people

2. Stick b having sth in large quantities

3. Unleash c to be weaker or less effective

4. Pulpit d a formal agrreement between two orgnizations, countries, etc.

5. Accord e to become accepted

6. Awash f to let a strong force have an effect

Ex. 7. Match the nouns and verbs as they are used in the article.

1. hold a chance

2. make b assistance

3. commit c pressure

4. label d referendum

5. increase e pledge

6. keep f genocide

Ex. 8. Write the summary of the newspaper article.

Ex. 9. Read the text below, use the following words to complete it.

Scales, rocket, pull, refugee, militants, patrolled, security