EGYPT'S WAR ON FLUQPIG FARMERS CLASH WITH CULL TEAMS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CAIRO 000771

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AIAG (DAVID WINN),DEPT PASS TO AID (DENNIS CARROLL)

USDA ALSO FOR APHIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: TBIO EAGR PGOV ECON KFLU KSTH KSCA KISL KIRF EG
SUBJECT: EGYPT'S WAR ON FLUQPIG FARMERS CLASH WITH CULL TEAMS

REF: a) Cairo 724 b) Cairo 743

Sensitive but Unclassified. Please handle accordingly.


1. (SBU) Key Points:

-- There have been reports of sporadic clashes between pig farmers
and GOE culling team as the pig cull in Egypt enters its second
week. There is a heavy police presence in the Mokkattum area on
Cairo's east side, home to many of the country's backyard pig farms.


-- Despite the resistance, the GOE cull continues, albeit very
slowly. The government appears to be backtracking on its decision
not to offer compensation.


2. (SBU) COMMENT: The decision to slaughter Egypt's pigs was made
quickly in an atmosphere of fear and ignorance. Egypt has been
plagued by Avian Influenza (AI) since early 2006. This year, Egypt
has had more AI victims than any other country in the world;
seventeen Egyptians have fallen sick (many of them young children),
and three have died. The three deaths, including one of a young
child, occurred days before the H1N1 virus scare. The H5N1 virus
also continues to decimate poultry flocks. The GOE has been the
target of public and media criticism for its handling of the AI
issue, which is endemic in Egyptian poultry, as well as increasingly
vaccine resistant.


3. (SBU) COMMENT CONT'D: There is some scientific evidence that
pigs serve as viral mixing bowls and can and have been infected with
the H5N1 AI virus in Asia. Animal husbandry practices among Egypt's
poor include very close human and animal contact, including in
metropolitan Cairo. Egypt's parliament, including its Coptic
members, supported the cull, as did Pope Shenouda III, on the basis
of protecting the greater public good. The economic impact of the
cull will be borne almost exclusively by Coptic Christian pig
farmers, already a poor and marginalized group. Despite this, most
Coptic leaders, both lay and from the clergy, tell us they do not
believe the GOE's motives are sectarian. One Coptic bishop,
however, told us that the church is supporting the cull because it
fears a backlash if it resisted and there subsequently were an H1N1
outbreak here. The church is pushing hard to ensure that the pig
farmers receive fair compensation. END COMMENT.

THE CULL CONTINUES
--------------

4. (SBU) GOE pig culling teams continue to work their way through
Egyptian pig farms. There have been several clashes between
farmers, on the one hand, and cull teams and police escorts on the
other. Most of the incidents, involving assaults and rock-throwing,
have taken place in Giza, on Cairo's west side and in the Christian
enclave of Mokkattam, on the eastQwhere many of Cairo's backyard pig
farms are located. Embassy Cairo's Regional Security Office issued
a Security Notice concerning the situation and we have also sent a
Consular Warden message. Since May 3, the police presence on the
outskirts of Mokkattam has been heavy.


5. (SBU) We met with community leaders in Manshiyat Nasser, part of
the greater Mokkattam area on May 6. They confirmed that the
policeQescorted pig culling teams have been moving slowly and
cautiously through the neighborhood, home to over 60,000 people,
many of whom are "ziballeen" -Q garbage collectors. These community
leaders estimate that to date the culling teams have killed or
removed only about 3,000 of the 70,000 pigs that lived on 460 farms
in the Manshiyat Nasser neighborhood before the slaughter began.
The culling teams have treated the farmers courteously. According
to the community leaders, few farmers have received compensation,
and those that were paid received only "pennies."

THE PLAN
--------------

6. (SBU) According to GOE sources on May 4, the current plan is to
eliminate all pigs within thirty days (ref b),pay some compensation
to owners, allow them to sell meat if the veterinary authorities
deem it safe, and permit the pig industry to start anew with special
breeds in selected areas where biosafety and cleanliness standards
are established and enforced. The local press, however, is
reporting that the culling effort could take as long as six months
because the GOE does not have enough slaughterhouses.


7. (SBU) Egypt's Ministries of Health and Population (MOH) and
Agriculture and Land Reclamation (MALR) have made enormous gains
against AI, especially in terms of public awareness, human victim
survival rates, surveillance and genetic work. The GOE has also

CAIRO 00000771 002 OF 002


been particularly transparent about reporting human cases as they
occur. Unlike some other countries, Egypt quickly reports all human
AI cases to the World Health Organization (WHO).


8. (SBU) Egypt's Parliament and media are increasingly frustrated
over the GOE's continued failure to stop the H5N1 virus, now endemic
in Egypt despite mass bird culling and large -- albeit somewhat
chaotic -- vaccination programs. Shortly before the H1N1 virus
emerged, the GOE was reviewing its approach to Avian Influenza,
looking for way to improve poultry movement control, and an approach
to the commercial sector combining compensation for farms that fall
victim to the virus with stiff penalties for failure to report
outbreaks. But GOE programs have fallen far short of their goals,
and the public tends to greet AI initiatives cynically, including
the 2008 Presidential Proclamation, which was not widely acted upon,
to move pigs outside of urban areas.


9. (SBU) WHOQs Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (EMRO)
representatives failed to weigh in with science-based arguments when
the debate over the swine cull was raging in Egypt and their voices
could have had an impact. On April 29, Al Masry Al Youm, a widely
read, independent newspaper, reported that EMRO's Regional Director
said the "problem is the presence of pigs near humans" and "the
problem must be eliminated, either dispose of or transfer pig farms
to places far from population centers."


10. (SBU) While some Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated MPs highlighted
religious reasons to get rid of pigs in Egypt (ref a) the Egyptian
Parliament, including several Coptic MPs, was virtually unanimous in
its call for a pig-free Egypt. When Coptic Primate Pope Shenouda III
sanctioned the culling (claiming that "Copts don't eat pigs,
tourists do") and the Governors of Kalubia, Helwan, Beheira, Suez
and Minya started culling pigs at the local level, there was
considerable pressure on the central government to follow suit.
Although the decision to go ahead with the cull has been criticized
internationally, it has proven very popular domestically and the
press is full of praise for what are seen as the GOE's strong and
effective actions to control H1N1.

SCOBEY