Beef plants reopen as roads clear

TALAS — Cattle trucks were moving again yesterday on the Trans-Talas Highway as the beef plants of the export zone in western Talas resumed operations after months of interruption during the fighting around the city.

SuKarne said it had restarted slaughtering at its complex and expected to return to full shifts within weeks, as feeder cattle began arriving again from the Talas and Chu valleys. The neighboring Conagra plant also reopened. Road links between the western corridor and central Talas, cut for much of the spring and summer, have been open since the ceasefire signed in Bishkek this month.

In Semiz, families are returning. About 1,400 women and children were flown out on Iradiya charters from the aprons beside Talas Air Base after the Popular Front invested the city in April. Most of the men stayed. Through the spring the parish of St. Yusup the Worker sheltered residents, and beef from SuKarne's cold store was handed out in the western corridor when food ran short. Night watches organized by residents kept Semiz free of the looting seen in the city center. Community organizations took no side in the conflict.

Three Semiz residents died during the investment of the city. One of them was a Mexican maintenance engineer at the SuKarne plant. Parishioners said a memorial Mass would be held for all three when the families who left in April have returned.