Egypt's bid to head UN agency hits a snag

       The race to lead the UN's culture and education agency Unesco kicked off yesterday with controversy over charges that anti-Israel comments from Egypt's candidate Faruq Hosni make him unfit for the top job.
       Representatives from the 58 nations that make up Unesco's executive council were meeting in Paris ahead of a first round of voting on Sept 17 to elect a successor to Japan's Koichiro Matsuura.
       Egypt's culture minister for 22 years,Mr Hosni is lobbying to cement his status as the frontrunner among nine candidates to become Unesco director-general.
       But his bid has run into opposition from Elie Wiesel, Nobel laureate and survivor of the Nazi prison camp at Auschwitz. US and French commentators have also opposed his candidacy.
       The clamour centres on comments Mr Hosni made in May 2008 in the Egyptian parliament when he vowed to "burn Israeli books if he found any in Egyptian libraries".
       Mr Hosni has since voiced regret for the comments and sought to explain that they were uttered during an angry exchange with hardliners from the Muslim Brotherhood.
       But Mr Wiesel and intellectuals Bernard-Henri Levy and Claude Lanzmann wrote in Le Monde newspaper in May that "the international community must spare itself from the shame of appointing Faruq Hosni to the post of Unesco director-general".
       Mr Hosni has made similar statements that ought to disqualify him for the job,they wrote in the opinion piece.
       Unesco has a mandate to promote global understanding through culture,science and education.
       Mr Hosni's main rival for the post is European Commissioner for External Relations and ex-Austrian foreign minister, Benita Ferrero-Waldner.
       But the Egyptian candidate has won much support in Europe as an attempt to reach out to the Muslim world. France must remain officially neutral on the issue as it is the host country for Unesco,but officials have said privately that Paris favours Mr Hosni for the job.
       The Elysee has argued that Mr Hosni has acknowledged that the comments were a mistake, while noting that neither Israel nor the US has stood up to oppose his candidacy.
       In Cairo, Mr Hosni sought to fend off his opponents and said his candidacy was "based on a basic philosophy which is reconciliation between peoples."
       About five rounds of voting are expected to take place to pick the new director-general. The appointment will be endorsed by Unesco's 193-member assembly in October.