CAIRO — Cairo has been rounding up support for Moushira Khattab, its preferred candidate for the post of director-general for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Another eight candidates will be competing against Khattab in the election scheduled for Oct. 9, including Hamad al-Kawari, former Qatari minister of information and culture; Audrey Azoulay, French minister for culture and communication; and Qian Tang of China, UNESCO's assistant director-general for education. Khattab and Kawari's candidacies have launched another diplomatic confrontation between Qatar and the Arab countries boycotting it since June 5.
In July, the boycotting countries — Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — announced their support for Khattab, who has also gained the backing of the bloc of 13 African countries on UNESCO's Executive Board, who announced their support in a resolution at a summit in Addis Ababa.
