UNESCO DIRECTOR GENERAL RACE: OBTAINING FRENCH SUPPORT

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