BBC News:中國出資修建東非鐵路

I am Jackie Leonard with a selection of highlights from across BBC World Service News today.

Coming up, what to do with Syria's chemical weapons? European leaders have been making a last minute of attempt to persuade Ukrain to sign the deal on close integration with the EU.

"EU made it very clear that Ukrain has to choose, either their customers' union or the joint economic base with Russia, or a very faraway perspective of EU membership."

Also in the pod, "I am afraid it's not looking great. It looks like it's fading away."

It appears that Comet Ison didn't survive its near encounter with the sun; and the ambitious rail project to link up East Africa.

"This new train line is a God sent for all of us."

Now normally, if I tell you a story is going to involve Kenya, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan, you might feat I'm going to be telling you about some toxic complex conflict. But this is potentially at least a rather happier story for East Africa — the announcement of a railway to extend across the region linking all of those countries. Its projected cost is just over 5 billion dollars mainly funded by China. And to give you an idea of the sort of impact the railway might have, the first section is due to link the Kenyan port of Mombasa with the Capital Nairobi and reduce the journey time from the current 15 hours to just 4. Speaking of the launch of the railway line, President Uhuru Kenyatta describes this as a historic milestone which will transform not only Kenya but the entire East Africa region.

"We are uniting East Africa. We have an intention of integrating the entire East African region and our commitment as a government is to allow people free mobility and to allow the prosperity of the people of this region."

So what do people who might use the railway line think? Tim Franks speaks to Chris Kirobie who owns a factory in Nairobi.

"I make cosmetics. I make detergents. I make plastic products. And therefore, I do need to bring in raw materials. I need also to export my goods to neighboring countries and all over."

"And how difficult is that at the moment?"

"It is not difficult but it is very expensive."

"So what's this new train line gonna mean for you?"

"This new train line is a God sent for all of us. It is something we cannot believe in because all our 50 years, Kenya and the neighboring countries have never built one kilometer of rail."