VZCZCXRO1670
PP RUEHAST RUEHDH RUEHHM RUEHLN RUEHMA RUEHPB RUEHPOD RUEHTM RUEHTRO
DE RUEHEG #0724/01 1190817
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 290817Z APR 09
FM AMEMBASSY CAIRO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2300
INFO RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHPH/CDC ATLANTA GA PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CAIRO 000724 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AIAG (DAVID WINN), DEPT PASS TO AID (DENNIS CARROLL) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: TBIO KFLU KSTH PGOV ECON KSCA EAGR KISL KIRF USDA
APHIS EG 
SUBJECT: EGYPT:LET'S KILL ALL THE PIGS 
 
Sensitive but Unclassified.  Please handle accordingly. 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary and comment: While Egyptian authorities have been 
responding to the virus formerly known as Swine Flu (and now known 
as H1N1) in measured ways -stepping up a mostly moribund program to 
move swine out of urban areas to the countryside, testing swine and 
swine workers for the H1N1 virus, imposing restrictions on swine 
movement, and contemplating travel restrictions on those seeking to 
enter Egypt from affected countries- the crisis has re-kindled the 
"pig debate," and members of the People's Assembly (Parliament) from 
both sides of the aisle, including those affiliated with the Muslim 
Brotherhood, are calling for the slaughter of all swine in Egypt. 
While it is questionable whether the GOE could kill all the pigs 
here even if it decided to do so, the issue has serious implications 
in a country where religion and politics mix early and often, and 
reports are coming in that some Governorates have already begun 
killing pigs. End summary and comment. 
 
 
 
 
 
THE CALL TO THE ABBATOIR 
 
¶2. (SBU) While Egypt has no confirmed human cases of H1N1, several 
members of the Parliament have called for the slaughter of all pigs 
in Egypt.  Abdul Rehim El Ghoul, MP and member of the Agriculture 
Committee, told El Mehwar TV recently that he supported proposals to 
execute all pigs in Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood (MB) is leading 
the anti-pig chorus, and its rhetoric is spiced with a healthy 
criticism of the GOE's failure to comply with a longstanding 
Presidential Proclamation to move the pigs out of the cities.  The 
MB's Parliamentary Bloc Media Secretary, Dr. Hamdy Hassan, has 
engaged in media blitz focusing on the fear of the virus evolving, 
via pigs, into a human epidemic for which there is no treatment.  In 
a troubling development, Al Masry Al Youm (AMAY), an independent 
newspaper, is reporting this morning that Parliament's Speaker, 
Fathi Sorour, has urged Prime Minister Nazif to begin the slaughter 
of pigs immediately. AMAY is also reporting that some Governors have 
taken matters into their own hands, and pig killing has already 
begun in Kalubia, Helwan, Beheira, Suez and Minya, albeit on a small 
scale. 
 
 
WILL THERE BE A MASS SLAUGHTER? 
 
¶3. The logistics of a mass pig slaughter are staggering. Hassan 
claims there are 400,000 pigs in the greater Cairo area.  Hard 
numbers are difficult to come by, but sources in the Ministries of 
Health and Agriculture believe the swine population in the Cairo, 
Giza and Dakahlia Governorates alone may be 300,000.  The Egyptian 
Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs has identified nine 
areas where pigs are now raised, five of which are in Cairo.  And no 
one knows how many pigs are in the Minya, Sohag, and Assiut 
Governorates, home to large Christian populations. 
 
A PUBLIC RECEPTIVE TO A CALL FOR PIG BLOOD 
 
¶4. (SBU) The H1N1 crisis comes at a time of heated political debate 
concerning and public concern about Egypt's continuing problems with 
Avian Influenza (AI).  With 68 confirmed human cases here since the 
disease emerged in early 2006, including seventeen this year, Egypt 
has lately had its fair share of bad Bird Flu news. Three of this 
year's AI victims died in the last few days, and the GOE is working 
on new legislation to deal with the AI problem, possibly including 
enhanced poultry movement controls, heavy penalties for 
non-disclosure of outbreaks, and a compensation scheme for the 
commercial sector.  Comment: While most of those calling for pig 
culling have yet to make the case that the presence of a large pig 
population in a country where H5N1 is endemic creates a recipe for a 
disaster, it probably won't be long until they do.  And whatever the 
merits of that argument, the public will likely be receptive to it. 
End comment. 
 
WHEN PIGS FLY 
 
¶5. (SBU) Until today, the GOE has taken measured steps to deal with 
the H1N1 crisis.  It is kick starting the mostly moribund program to 
move swine from the urban areas to the countryside, testing swine 
and swine workers for the new virus, imposing restrictions on swine 
movement, and contemplating travel restrictions on those seeking to 
enter Egypt from affected countries.  NAMRU-3 is assisting with the 
swine worker testing.  And so far, most of the "Let's kill all the 
pigs" rhetoric pays lip service to the notion of fair compensation 
for pig farmers.  If the GOE's handling of the AI crisis is a 
harbinger of things to come with H1N1, it seems unlikely the GOE 
 
CAIRO 00000724  002 OF 002 
 
 
will have either the political will to cull all the pigs, or the 
ability to fund a compensation program if it does so.  This said, 
pigs are not chickens, and it appears Egypt may well deal with this 
pandemic threat very differently. 
 
Scobey