Photo by MENAFN

The OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) has signed a US$20 million public sector loan agreement with Kenya to increase regional connectivity, enhance trade and improve the socio-economic welfare of about 1.6 million people.

The loan will finance the upgrading of the 90 km Samatar - Wajir Road, a part of the North and North-Eastern Development Initiative Programme. The programme will better connect Kenya's northern region to the rest of the country, improving an important 739 km corridor linking Isiolo in the north with Mandera in the northeast (at the border with Ethiopia).

As with all OPEC Fund-financed projects, this investment aligns with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and with SDG 9 on industry, innovation and infrastructure in particular.

The OPEC Fund is co-financing the project with the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa, the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, the Saudi Fund for Development and the government of Kenya.

The OPEC Fund and Kenya have been development partners for nearly 45 years. The organisation has provided public sector financing totaling close to US$195 million (including the present loan) to help support the country's agriculture, banking and financial services, communication, education, energy, financial, health, transportation and water and sanitation sectors.

OFID was established in January 1976 by the then 13 member countries of OPEC; including the United Arab Emirates. It is the development finance institution established as a channel of aid to developing countries. MENAFN

A male giraffe, Lbarnoti, was rescued from flooded Kenyan rangeland using a custom barge and some patient training. CARO WITHEY, SAMATIAN ISLAND / SAVE GIRAFFES NOW

On a sunny day at Kenya’s Lake Baringo, a barge floated gently by. Its main passenger calmly munched on his favorite snack of acacia seed pods. At about 16 feet tall, he could easily peer around to take in his watery surroundings. But this was not some idyllic pleasure cruise. This trip, on January 27, 2021, was a rescue mission, to save Lbarnoti, a Rothschild’s giraffe, from floodwaters gradually rising around Longicharo Island, where he and some fellow ruminants had lived for a decade.

Lbarnoti was not the only one to get this treatment. In December 2020, two females, Asiwa and Pasaka, made the same trip, one at a time. They had all been carefully transferred by American-based nonprofit Save Giraffes Now in collaboration with Kenya Wildlife Service, the Northern Rangelands Trust, and local members of the Ruko community. Another six animals remain on the island.

The long-necked grazers are extremely challenging to move around, according to David O’Connor, president of Save Giraffes Now, who was present at the first rescue. Unlike elephants, rhinoceroses, and lions, who can be sedated while being transported, giraffe physiology makes this strategy risky for the animals. “Once they’re down and horizontal, which is not a natural position for them, potentially they could choke on their own saliva. Or because of their unique blood flow system, basically their brain could explode because of the high pressure of the blood going to the brain,” says O’Connor. “And how do you get the tallest creature on Earth across a mile of open lake to the mainland?”

The solution was a custom-built steel barge. Made by the Ruko community, it was specifically engineered to carry a tall creature weighing as much as 2,600 pounds, with a rectangular steel structure with reinforced sides atop a series of empty steel drums. ”Our hope all along had been not to tranquilize the giraffe at all, but really try to move them, with the amazing team on the ground, to slowly train them to be comfortable on the barge,” says O’Connor. The training is painstaking, involving food such as mangoes and acacia seed pods, and acclimating the giraffes to the barge. With Lbarnoti, the conservationists were able to lure him in voluntarily. Boats then gently pulled the barge an hour-long ride, past crocodiles and hippopotamuses. He arrived safely at the mainland sanctuary of the Ruko Community Wildlife Conservancy, a protected wildlife reserve, where he was reunited with Asiwa and Pasaka (both of whom actually had to be blindfolded and gently sedated for the trip).

There are significant reasons for all this effort. Rothschild’s giraffes are a subspecies—not only one of the tallest of their kind, but also one of the most endangered populations. They look different, too. They have five, nubby horn-like ossicones on their heads (other giraffes have only two), and they appear to be wearing white socks, since their markings fade halfway down their legs. Named for zoologist Lord Walter Rothschild, who observed them in the early 1900s (and founded the Natural History Museum at Tring in England), they once roamed in large numbers across the whole Western Rift Valley, where Lake Baringo is located, in Kenya and into Uganda. But in the mid-1900s, they disappeared from the area due to drought, loss of habitat, and poaching. Today, less than 3,000 are left in the world, with only about 800 in Kenya.

In 2011, eight Rothschild’s giraffes were reintroduced on Longicharo Island, originally an isolated, rocky peninsula lush with acacia trees, to try to increase their population away from poachers. But this past season’s intense rainfall saw water levels rise as much as six inches per day, cutting the area off from the mainland completely. The need to get the giraffes off the island is urgent. What was once 100 acres of habitat had shrunk to one or two acres, and food sources had grown scarce. O’Connor says, ”They’re a little bit skinnier than a normal giraffe…. With the dry season, there’s absolutely no food, so they’re depending 100 percent on supplemental feeding by the team.” With one percent of the Kenyan population on the island, each rescue is important. “Giraffes are undergoing a silent extinction, and each one matters greatly to the survival of these animals,” O’Connor adds.

“We must finish these rescues as quickly as possible,” says Susan Myers, founder and CEO of Save Giraffes Now, in a press release. There are plans to move two more female giraffes, depending on weather, staffing, and finances. The final move of the remaining four, including two calves, is hoped for in March 2021. The work is all part of a long-term plan. “ Once we rescue them, that’s not the end of it,” O’Connor says. “That’s actually just the beginning of trying to repopulate the entire Western Rift Valley with this type of giraffe, where they became locally extinct 70 years ago.” Watching Lbarnoti’s graceful gait on the other side of his trip makes one hope that many more generations will nimbly follow. - Winnie Lee, Atlas Obscura

NANYUKI, KENYA - FEBRUARY 25: A woman walks alongside a railway line on February 25, 2016 in Nanyuki, Kenya. Situated in East Africa with a coastline on the Indian Ocean Kenya encompasses savannah, lakelands, the dramatic Great Rift Valley, mountain highlands and abundant wildlife such as lions, elephants and rhinos. From Nairobi, the capital, safaris visit the Maasai Mara reserve, known for its annual wildebeest migrations, and Amboseli National Park, offering views of Tanzania's 5,895m Mt. Kilimanjaro. Kenya gained its independence from British colonial rule in 1963 after an insurrection led by Jomo Kenyatta. (Photo by Ian Forsyth/Getty Images) Photographer: Ian Forsyth/Getty Images Europe , Photographer: Ian Forsyth/Getty Images Europe

(Bloomberg) -- Burundi and Tanzania are seeking to raise $1.9 billion for a railway linking the two East African nations that could help landlocked Burundi boost its mineral exports, an official said.

“Now is the time to start fund-raising” for the 190-kilometer (118 mile) line from Musongati in Burundi to Tanzania’s Isaka, said Dieudonné Dukundane, executive secretary of Central Corridor, a government-backed agency that promotes regional transport development.

The railway will be part of a broader project eventually connecting Tanzania to Burundi’s northern neighbor Rwanda, which will cost about $7.6 billion, according to the website of the Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa.

Linking Burundi with Tanzania’s Dar es Salaam port could be a boon for the mining industry in the nickel-rich nation. The government in Bujumbura is targeting a 47% rise in mineral revenue in the 10 years to 2027.

Dukundane was speaking to reporters after a meeting of regional stakeholders in Burundi. - Desire Nimubona, Bloomberg News

Police spokesman Charles Owino.  Image: FILE/Photo Courtesy 

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