VZCZCXRO7545
PP RUEHAST RUEHDH RUEHHM RUEHLN RUEHMA RUEHPB RUEHPOD RUEHTM RUEHTRO
DE RUEHEG #0771/01 1261113
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 061113Z MAY 09
FM AMEMBASSY CAIRO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2353
INFO RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHPH/CDC ATLANTA GA PRIORITY
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHINGTON DC

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