释义 |
shifta|ˈʃɪftə| Pl. shifta, shiftas. Also with capital initial. [Somali shúfto bandit, ad. Amharic.] A Somali bandit or guerrilla, operating mainly in northern Kenya. Also attrib.
1950Times 18 Feb. 5/3 Mr. H. V. Rose, who is in charge of the anti-Shifta operations, has reported a steady decline in the number of incidents this month, as the number of contacts made by ‘ferret’ forces with the Shifta bands has increased. 1959Times 29 June 11/7 The shiftas, although they may relieve the traveller of his goods, seldom harm his person. 1967Economist 27 May 900/3 The Kenyan government warned its Somali neighbours that if they went on supporting the ethnic Somali shifta terrorists (freedom-fighters, the Somalis say) in Kenya's north-eastern province, Kenya might hit back. 1972‘I. Drummond’ Frog in Moonflower v. 81 Somali shifta..were tough and greedy and they had a perverted sense of political mission. 1977Time 23 May 20/2 About 1,000 shiftas—armed nomads of the Western Somali Liberation Front—periodically mount hit-and-run attacks along the Somali frontier. 1980Daily Tel. 8 Jan. 1/8 She might have been killed by marauding Somali bandits called ‘Shifta’, who are blamed for much of the game poaching in Northern Kenya. |