It’s no surprise that the residents of Egypt’s Manshiyat Nasser (also known as “Garbage City), the vast majority of whom are poor Copts who make a living in part by raising swine (as well as sorting and selling garbage), did not take well to the Egyptian government’s recent decision to slaughter the country’s 300,000 pigs because of fears of swine flu (pardon me, H1N1). Egypt’s actions have been characterized by the vast majority of the international health community as “entirely unnecessary” as the virus is spreading through humans and not through pigs.
Residents of Garbage City clashed with police sent there yesterday to prevent pig farmers from smuggling out their livestock before the government could come in and slaughter it. According to the independent newspaper Al-Dustour, the protesters threw rocks at police and initially pushed them back, blocking a main road and attempting to demolish cars and street signs until reinforcements were sent and arrested fourteen people. Twelve were injured, including seven policemen.
The government has promised to reimburse the pig farmers, and apparently some of them have already received their payment.
A suspected Egyptian case of the flu turned out to be negative while the Egyptian government seems to be taking intensive precautionary measures to prevent the spread of H1N1 in the country. According to the Daily News Egypt,
Minister of Health Hatem El-Gabaly announced that the ministry is coordinating with the airports authority, deploying physicians to accompany flights coming from infected areas. There are plans to equip airports with thermal detection devices as well.
The government’s measures against the flu should be welcomed, but while thermal detection devices will certainly be useful, there are many other steps the government could take to better protect its citizens, against the flu and in general. Though government officials have said that they fear the poor living conditions in Garbage City could enhance the virus’s ability to spread, the area has historically been largely ignored by the government. Its residents live literally in garbage, and it is the site of a landslide that killed upwards of 90 people in September 2008. It took hours for government emergency services to arrive on the scene.
In addition, Egyptian Chronicles reports that the Minister of Health has accused “elements within the Parliament,” i.e. the Muslim Brotherhood (there are “independent” government MPs with ties to the Brotherhood), of taking advantage of the epidemic in a supposed attempt to rid Egypt of swine, the eating of which is prohibited in Islam. There is certainly a religious element at play here, whether by coincidence or not. Tensions between Muslims and Copts fluctuate in Egypt, and most recently the country has seen a spate of revenge killings between the two groups.
The Egyptian Minister of Agriculture was quoted as saying that “After culling all the existing pigs, we plan to take veterinary procedures to sanitize existing farms and reestablish them according to international health and environmental standards.”
Maybe H1NI will be a blessing in disguise for the people of Manshiyat Nasser as the government will be forced to pay more attention to the terrible living conditions there.
