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Egyptian farmers protest mandatory swine slaughter
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-05-04 09:54

The farmers also work in the garbage industry and use their daily collections to feed their herds, which number about 300,000 animals in the country.

Egyptian farmers protest mandatory swine slaughter
Protestors stand behind a fire set up to prevent security men from entering their area, in the Manshiyat Nasser areas in Cairo, May 3, 2009. [Agencies]

With the government-mandated slaughter under way, Egypt's Health Ministry declared Saturday that "Egypt is free of the swine flu."

Dr. Hamid Samaha, head of the country's Public Institute for Veterinary Services, said that starting Sunday the government will compensate pig farmers by paying as much as $45 for a disease-free pig and about $5 for diseased ones.

The health ministry said its workers are freezing all the disease-free meat and plan to give it back to its owners once the ban on pigs is lifted. But according to Egypt's al-Akhbar newspaper, ministry sources said the country does not have enough facilities to store the frozen meat. Ministry spokesman Dr. Abdel-Rahman Shaheen said the government will open two new slaughterhouses in two provinces near Cairo, al-Alioubiya and al-Giza.

Shaheen also announced Saturday that the ministry has enlisted 100 additional doctors and nurses to help in health quarantines at Cairo Airport, where travelers are being questioned if they have been to Mexico recently. And more are expected to be hired to help at Alexandra's main seaport, where the government declared a state of emergency last week.