C O N F I D E N T I A L   UNESCOPARI   11182119 
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C O N F I D E N T I A L PARIS FR 002119 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR IO and NEA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/18/2018 
TAGS: PREL UNESCO FR EG
SUBJECT:  UNESCO DIRECTOR GENERAL RACE:  OBTAINING FRENCH SUPPORT 
AGAINST HOSNI 
 
REF:  PARIS FR 02103 
 
Classified by Ambassador Louise V. Oliver for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1. (C) Summary:  The Government of France (GOF) does not want the 
Egypt's Culture Minister Farouk Hosni to become UNESCO's next 
Director General and are looking for a way to escape from President 
Sarkozy's informal statements of support made to President Mubarak in 
the autumn of 2007. Reiteration in Cairo of U.S. opposition to Hosni 
(reftel) would make the U.S. position clear and give the French the 
opportunity they are looking for.  Hosni's candidacy would be in real 
difficulty if both the U.S., UNESCO's largest contributor, and 
France, UNESCO's host and current EU president, line up against him. 
Since the Egyptians have not yet formally nominated Hosni, there is 
the possibility that with strong U.S. and French pressure, the 
Egyptians will decide not to move forward with Hosni.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (C) The French Ambassador to UNESCO, Catherine Colonna, told 
Ambassador Oliver in a meeting on November 14 that the GOF does not 
want Egypt's Minister of Culture, Farouk Hosni, to be the next 
Director General of UNESCO.  She went on to say that they would be 
concerned about any Arab candidate, given the strong regional 
solidarity that exists among the Arab states.  However, President 
Sarkozy's informal comments to President Mubarak one year ago 
suggesting French support for Mr. Hosni have put the GOF in an 
awkward position. 
 
¶3. (C) In addition to France's being one of Egypt's largest trading 
partners, President Sarkozy is co-chairing the new Union of the 
Mediterranean with President Mubarak.  For the past year, the French 
have refrained from formalizing their informal endorsement, in the 
hope that something would derail Mr. Hosni's candidature. 
 
¶4. (C) The French UNESCO Ambassador was therefore very pleased when 
Ambassador Oliver told her that she had informed the Egyptian 
Ambassador to UNESCO, Dr. Shadia Kenawy, that the U.S. had decided 
not to support Mr. Hosni's candidature (reftel).  Ambassador Colonna 
agreed that this should enable the GOF to tell the Egyptians that the 
GOF also has grave concerns about Mr. Hosni and would not support his 
candidacy.  The French Ambassador also said that strong support from 
the GOF that enabled an Egyptian to be chosen recently for a very 
high-level post at the IMF has taken care of their obligations to 
Egypt. 
 
¶5. (C) The GOF first became aware of U.S. opposition to Hosni's 
candidacy as a result of high-level communications between the U.S. 
and GOF several weeks ago before a meeting in Paris between President 
Sarkozy and President Mubarak.  In the end, it turned out the subject 
of the election for the next Director General of UNESCO was not 
raised during the Sarkozy-Mubarak meeting.  Many at UNESCO, including 
the Egyptians themselves, assume that they already have French 
endorsement. Ambassador Kenawy told Ambassador Oliver directly that 
they do.  Both Ambassador Kenawy and the Egyptian Representative to 
UNESCO's Executive Board, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific 
Research Hany Helal, who is a former staff member at UNESCO, have 
been actively campaigning at UNESCO. 
 
¶6. (C) When Ambassador Oliver informed Ambassador Colonna that the 
Egyptians had not yet sent a letter to UNESCO formally nominating Mr. 
Hosni as their candidate, Ambassador Colonna said that fact was a 
very important reason to put pressure on Egypt now to stop them from 
moving forward formally with Mr. Hosni's candidacy.  The French 
Ambassador added that she did not think that the GOF was really 
focusing on the UNESCO election at the moment, but that she would try 
to encourage it to do so, given the information that the U.S. 
Ambassador had shared with her.  The French Ambassador also thought 
that the U.S. should stay quiet at UNESCO for the moment about its 
position on Hosni in order to allow the Egyptians to consider ways of 
ending Mr. Hosni's candidacy without being perceived as doing it 
under U.S. pressure. 
 
¶7. (C) Comment:  It is clear that there is a short window of 
opportunity for stopping the Hosni candidacy before it becomes 
formalized.  In order to make that happen, two things must be done as 
soon as possible.  First, the U.S. position must be confirmed in 
Cairo so that there is no doubt about the U.S. position.  Second, the 
GOF must be asked to speak to the Egyptians both in Cairo and at 
UNESCO so that the Egyptians know that the U.S. is not the only major 
country that does not support the Hosni candidacy.  Other countries 
including Lebanon, Algeria, and Brazil are considering nominating 
candidates, but they will not do so if they think that the Egyptian 
candidacy has the support necessary to win the Director General 
election.  Although concerns about the U.S.-Egyptian bi-lateral 
relationship are understandable, there would be much less damage to 
U.S.-Egyptian relations if Egypt withdrew its candidate quietly, than 
if it is forced to do so in the face of public U.S. opposition. 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR IO and NEA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/18/2018 
TAGS: PREL UNESCO FR EG
SUBJECT:  UNESCO DIRECTOR GENERAL RACE:  OBTAINING FRENCH SUPPORT 
AGAINST HOSNI 
 
Strong pressure from both the U.S. and France is the most likely way 
to prevent the Hosni candidacy from moving forward, thereby enabling 
the U.S. to identify an acceptable alternative candidate.  If the 
Egyptians persist in nominating Mr. Hosni as their official candidate 
despite U.S.-French opposition, a different - and likely more 
difficult- strategy will need to be developed. 
 
OLIVER