C O N F I D E N T I A L   UNESCOPARI   11212144 
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C O N F I D E N T I A L PARIS FR 002144 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL 11/21/2018 
TAGS: UNESCO PREL FR JA EG IS NO
SUBJECT: LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN THE UNESCO DIRECTOR-GENERAL RACE 
 
Classified by Ambassador Louise V. Oliver for reason 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
REF: (A) Paris FR 02103 
 (B) Paris FR 02119 
 
¶1. (C) Summary:  The Egyptian Ambassador to UNESCO has asked for 
meetings with the Japanese and French Ambassadors to UNESCO to find 
out if the Government of Japan (GOJ) and the Government of France 
(GOF) are supporting the Egyptian candidate for the next Director 
General of UNESCO.  The results of those meetings will help the 
Egyptians decide whether to move forward with a formal nomination of 
their candidate, Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni.  In the meantime, 
Ambassador Oliver has confirmed that the Ambassadors of Israel and 
Germany, as well as the Deputy Permanent Representative of Norway, 
agree with the U.S. position on Mr. Hosni.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (C) The Egyptian Ambassador to UNESCO, Dr. Shadia Kenawy, has 
requested a meeting with the Japanese Ambassador to UNESCO, Mr. 
Tadamichi Yamamoto, on November 21 to find out the position of the 
Government of Japan (GOJ) regarding the Egyptian candidate for UNESCO 
Director General, Minister of Culture, Farouk Hosni.  The Japanese 
Ambassador told Ambassador Oliver that the GOJ will be unable to 
openly state its opposition to the Hosni candidacy at that meeting 
because of its desire to keep the current Japanese Director General 
of UNESCO, Koichiro Matsuura, out of the election process.  However, 
Ambassador Yamamoto said that the GOJ had given him permission to 
tell the Egyptian Ambassador that it had "grave concerns" about Mr. 
Hosni's candidacy.  The Japanese Ambassador also said that the GOJ 
had been lobbied on November 10 on behalf of Mr. Hosni by the Foreign 
Minister of Qatar.  (N.B. That was three days before Ambassador 
Oliver informed the Egyptian Ambassador about the U.S. opposition to 
Mr. Hosni's candidacy.)  He also said that he had been instructed by 
the GOJ to meet with the Ambassador of Brazil on November 24 in order 
to share the concerns of the GOJ with him. 
 
¶3. (C) The Egyptian Ambassador has also requested a meeting with the 
French Ambassador to UNESCO, Catherine Colonna, on Monday, November 
24, presumably to ascertain the French position on Mr. Hosni. 
Although Ambassador Colonna has told Ambassador Oliver on several 
occasions that the GOF opposes the Hosni candidacy, she did not say 
how direct she could be with the Egyptian Ambassador.  The French 
Ambassador also told Ambassador Oliver that she would try to find out 
what other countries the Egyptian Ambassador is talking to.  In 
addition, the French Ambassador suggested that a small number of 
other countries, such as Germany, should be discreetly informed about 
the U.S. position, in case they are approached by the Egyptians for 
support.  On November 21, Ambassador Colonna also told Ambassador 
Oliver that Egypt's Ambassador to the UN had just met the individual 
responsible for international organizations at the Quai d'Orsay and 
had not mentioned Mr. Hosni's candidacy for the UNESCO Director 
General position during that meeting. 
 
¶4. (C) On November 20, Ambassador Oliver met with the Israeli 
Ambassador to UNESCO, David Kornbluth, to get an update from him on 
the DG race.  Ambassador Kornbluth stated that after Mr. Hosni's 
remarks on burning Israeli books in Egyptian libraries, a number of 
countries had approached him to state their deep concerns about Mr. 
Hosni and to say that they did not think he was an appropriate 
candidate for UNESCO's next Director General.  These countries 
included Mexico, Russia, Belgium, the Netherlands, Canada, and 
Mauritius.  He also mentioned that he thought that Switzerland, the 
Czech Republic, and Monaco would probably not support Mr. Hosni. 
Ambassador Kornbluth added that the Government of Israel (GOI) thinks 
that Mr. Hosni is the worst of all possible Arab candidates, as he 
has consistently blocked any possibility of expanding 
Egyptian-Israeli cultural ties during his twenty years as Culture 
Minister.  He also said that Mr. Hosni has a vast machine at work in 
Cairo supporting his candidacy.  Ambassador Kornbluth said that he 
doubted that Egypt would withdraw Mr. Hosni's candidacy given how 
much time and effort they have spent promoting it.  He thinks that it 
would be a huge loss of face for Egypt, and does not see Egypt 
"buckling down to soft pressure".  He added that in the unlikely 
event that they did so, the GOI would continue to have difficulty 
supporting an Egyptian for the Director General position.  He did not 
elaborate. 
 
¶5.  (C) Ambassador Kornbluth also said that six months ago the 
Russians had indicated that they were supportive of the possible 
candidacy of UNESCO's Brazilian Deputy Director General, Marcio 
Barbosa.  The Israeli Ambassador will speak to the Russian Ambassador 
to UNESCO, Mr. Vladimir Kalamanov, to determine their current 
position.  (N.B. The Russian Ambassador told Ambassador Oliver that 
he would be leaving UNESCO in January.)  Ambassador Kornbluth also 
mentioned that he was told that initial French support for Mr. Hosni 
was in exchange for Egyptian support for Dominique Strauss-Kahn at 
the IMF.  During his meeting with Ambassador Oliver, the Israeli 
Ambassador said several times that he had been instructed by the GOI 
to take a low profile position at UNESCO on the Director General 
race, and that he did not expect those instructions to change in the 
immediate future. 
 
¶6. (C) Ambassador Oliver met with the Ambassador from Germany, Gunter 
Overfeld, on November 20 to discuss the Director General race. 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL 11/21/2018 
TAGS: UNESCO PREL FR JA EG IS NO
SUBJECT: LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN THE UNESCO DIRECTOR-GENERAL RACE 
 
Ambassador Overfeld was pleased to learn that the U.S. had told the 
UNESCO Egyptian Ambassador of the U.S. opposition to Mr. Hosni's 
candidacy.  He added that although he was comfortable with an Arab 
candidate, including a candidate from Egypt, he agreed that Mr. Hosni 
was not the right person for the UNESCO position.  Ambassador 
Overfeld also agreed that the U.S. position should be kept quiet for 
the moment, but thought it might be helpful if the German government 
expressed its concerns on Mr. Hosni's candidacy to the Egyptians, 
without mentioning the U.S., given the fact that the Egyptians have 
not yet formalized Mr. Hosni's candidacy. 
 
¶7.  (C) Ambassador Oliver also met with the Deputy Permanent 
Representative of Norway to UNESCO, Ole Briseid, on November 20 to 
inform him of U.S. opposition to Mr. Hosni's candidacy.  Mr. Briseid 
said that the Government of Norway was strongly opposed to Mr. Hosni. 
 He added that he understood that the other Nordic countries, 
Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland, agreed with this position.  He 
also said that the Nordic countries would like to have a Director 
General who is strongly committed to freedom of expression and of the 
press, and that Mr. Hosni had not demonstrated that commitment.  Mr. 
Briseid said that the Egyptians have not yet approached Norway, and 
that as far as he knew, the same was true for the other Nordic 
countries.  He understood that the U.S. wanted to keep its position 
quiet in order to allow the Egyptians to consider withdrawing Mr. 
Hosni's candidacy, but asked to be kept informed if the U.S. decided 
to change its position and take a more public approach.  (N.B. The 
Nordic countries are among the largest contributors of 
extra-budgetary funds to UNESCO.) 
 
¶8. (C) Comment:  Mission believes that the Egyptians are now talking 
to several major countries about Mr. Hosni in order to decide whether 
to move forward with his candidacy.  If they think that Japan and 
France would be willing to support Mr. Hosni, or at least not oppose 
him, the Egyptians will probably decide to nominate Mr. Hosni 
formally.  The Egyptians have been conducting a very aggressive and 
smart campaign thus far. After getting support from the foreign 
ministers of all Arab countries, they are in the process of getting 
support from as many Ministers of Culture as possible.  At the moment 
they seem to have the support of most of the African Ministers of 
Culture, and according to a recent article in the Egyptian press, the 
support of Spain's Culture Minister.  Because Mr. Hosni has been the 
Egyptian Minister of Culture for twenty years, he has personal 
relationships with many of these individuals.  The Egyptians expect 
that the Ministers of Culture will be able to persuade their 
respective heads of state to support Mr. Hosni.  The Egyptians will 
probably offer "deals" to those who are reluctant to support their 
candidate, as they did to the Ambassador of Lithuania in order to try 
to persuade her to withdraw from the race.  (N.B. The Lithuanian 
Ambassador to UNESCO, Ina Marciulionyte, has just been officially 
nominated as a candidate for the Director General post by the Baltic 
States.) 
 
¶9.  (C) Comment continued: Although it is clear that there are many 
countries who are not enthusiastic about, or are even opposed to Mr. 
Hosni's candidacy, nothing has been said publicly by anyone thus far, 
either because they think it is premature to do so, or because they 
are too nervous to risk offending Egypt.  However, the Egyptians are 
probably aware of the lack of enthusiasm for their candidate in a 
number of countries, and will not want to risk losing a secret ballot 
vote at UNESCO's September 2009 Executive Board session.  This is a 
critical moment for the Egyptians, and a coherent U.S. strategy in 
coordination with other key countries might be able to stop the Hosni 
candidacy and enable new candidates to enter the race. 
 
OLIVER