VOA标准英语2013--恐怖主义仍然威胁非洲

（单词翻译）

Africa Terrorism Threat Remains¹ 恐怖主义仍然威胁非洲

DAKAR — 2013 appears to have been the year the world woke up to African terrorism.  Military gains against Islamist extremists in places like Mali and Somalia were  followed by major terrorist attacks in neighboring countries - highlighting how complex and persistent² the threat really remains.

The year opened with a French military intervention³ in Mali.  Al-Qaida-linked fighters in control of the north were pushing south.

Malian troops could not have held them back alone.  But even as French and African troops liberated⁴ the north, jihadist fighters launched a revenge attack on a natural  gas facility in Ain Amenas, Algeria, taking hundreds hostage and ultimately killing⁵ at least 36 foreigners.

Somalia looked to be turning a corner at the start of 2013.  Kenyan and African Union troops had chased the militant⁶ group al-Shabab from key urban strongholds.

But in September, a small number of al-Shabab militants⁷ attacked an upscale Nairobi shopping mall, killing more than 60 people and laying bare failings by Kenyan  security and intelligence agencies.

The world watched as hundreds escaped.

Nigeria says it is turning the tide against the homegrown radical⁸ insurgency⁹, Boko Haram, that it has wrestled¹⁰ with since 2009.

In May, Nigeria began an offensive against the sect¹¹.  The United Nations says the ongoing¹² offensive has killed more than 1,200 people.  But Boko Haram continues to  attack.

An all-too-familiar pattern is playing out in Africa.  Islamist insurgents¹³ seize territory where they can. They set up safe havens¹⁴. They may even try to govern.  But  faced with military action, they abandon their urban fiefdoms and disperse¹⁵.  Some are killed.  Others live to strike back, joined by more young recruits.

Senegalese researcher Bakary Sambe says military intervention, in particular by Western forces, feeds radicalization.

"It's absurd to say you can make war on terrorism which by nature is constantly regenerating¹⁶ and evolving.  We also need to fight the causes of radicalization:  poverty, a sense of frustration¹⁷ and rejection¹⁸ by the state, and under-development," said Sambe.

Analysts¹⁹ say al-Shabab remains the most organized and far-reaching of the African al-Qaida affiliates²⁰ and that the publicity²¹ it got from the Westgate Mall attack  revitalized the al-Shabab brand, helping²² it recruit internationally.

A Horn of Africa expert in Nairobi, Abdiwahab Sheikh Abdisamed, says the international community must keep up the pressure.

"They [al-Shabab]  have an agenda beyond Somalia.  They have an agenda beyond the region.  They are going to Islamize the whole world….by force, not by preaching, by  force," said Abdisamed.

The United States and the European Union are keeping a close eye on these threats.  But with the exception of France, which continues to battle militants in Mali,  Western powers say that in the year ahead, they will continue with the more hands-off approach of financing, assisting and training African troops to contain violent  extremism.