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The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) is to appoint former Egyptian antiquities and tourism minister Khaled el-Enany as its next director general.
In a decisive vote on Monday, the organisation’s executive board backed El-Enany by 55 votes to 2 over Édouard Firmin Matoko of the Republic of Congo.
If confirmed, El-Enany will become UNESCO’s first leader from an Arab nation and only the second from Africa. He is set to succeed France’s Audrey Azoulay, who has completed two four-year terms.
His appointment still requires approval from UNESCO’s 194-member General Assembly, which will convene in Uzbekistan this November.
The United States abstained from the vote. Earlier in June, Washington accused UNESCO of bias against Israel and announced plans to withdraw from the organisation by the end of next year. El-Enany has pledged to work toward restoring U.S. participation, noting that the country provides about 8 percent of UNESCO’s funding.
A seasoned Egyptologist aged 54, El-Enany previously served as Egypt’s minister of antiquities and later as minister of tourism under President Abdel Fatah el-Sissi between 2016 and 2022.
