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Lucia A Keegan  08/24/2006 11:20:43 AM  From  DB/Inbox:  Lucia A Keegan

Cable 
Text:                                                                      
                                                                           
      
UNCLAS        PARIS 05653

SIPDIS
cxparis:
    ACTION: UNESCO
    INFO:   POL ECON AMBU AMB AMBO DCM SCI

DISSEMINATION: UNESCOX
CHARGE: PROG

APPROVED: CHARGE:AKOSS
DRAFTED: CHARGE:AKOSS
CLEARED: NONE

VZCZCFRI895
OO RUEHC RUEHLB RUEHTV RUCNDT
DE RUEHFR #5653 2351538
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 231538Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0606
INFO RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT 0427
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 0548
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0862

UNCLAS PARIS 005653 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FROM USMISSION UNESCO PARIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: UNESCO SCUL LE IS
SUBJECT:  UNESCO: LEBANON UPDATE 
 
 
¶1.  Charge spoke August 23 with Lebanese Charge Salim 
Baddoura for an update on UNESCO?s involvement with 
Lebanon.  Baddoura said that a UNESCO team arrived in 
Lebanon on August 22 and has already met with the 
Minister of Culture and will be meeting shortly with 
the Ministry of Education.  The current team will 
conduct a broad assessment, including educational and 
cultural institutions.  There will be two more UNESCO 
teams; one will assess damage to heritage sites and 
the other will look at mass media, education and 
sciences.  These teams will draw up proposals for 
UNESCO?s involvement in Lebanon?s reconstruction. 
Mounir Bouchenaki, who recently stepped down as head 
of UNESCO?s cultural sector will probably lead the 
team looking at damage to heritage sites.  Bouchenaki, 
an Algerian, is an internationally recognized expert 
on the preservation of cultural heritage.  (Comment: 
U.S. Mission enjoyed excellent relations with 
Bouchenaki when he ran the cultural sector.) 
 
¶2.  Baddoura indicated that he hopes that the UNESCO 
proposals will be included in a broader package of UN 
system-wide proposals to be presented at the Stockholm 
donor?s conference, which he said will be held at the 
end of August.  He expressed some skepticism that with 
various UN agencies competing for funding that 
UNESCO?s proposals will be deemed important enough to 
be funded. 
 
¶3.  The Lebanese Charge also said that work has not 
yet begun on drafting the Executive Board resolution 
on Lebanon.  He said they are still waiting to see how 
the situation evolves and will consult with the U.S. 
Mission as they move forward.  The secretary of the 
Executive Board has told Charge that the resolution 
would have to be ready by mid-September in order to be 
ready for the Board?s first Bureau meeting o/a 
September 28.  (Note: The US is a member of the Bureau 
that is the steering committee of the Board.) 
 
Koss