Arab candidates won’t withdraw: Moushira Khattab’s campaign

CAIRO - 29 September 2017: Official campaign of Egypt’s candidate for the UNESCO director post Ambassador Moushira Khattab denied mediation urging Arab candidates to withdraw in favor of the Egyptian candidate Moushira Khattab.


“Media reports on mediation of an Arab country between Egypt on one side and Iraq, Lebanon and Qatar on the other are baseless and not correct,” Sources at Khattab’s campaign told Egypt Today on Friday.

Privately-owned al-Watan newspaper quoted unnamed diplomats claiming that the Iraqi, Lebanese and Qatari candidates may accept to withdraw in favor of the Egyptian candidate upon an Arab state mediation efforts.

The sources revealed that the three Arab candidates’ opportunity to win is too weak compared to Khattab’s chance.

The campaign mandated a delegation to meet with the Spanish ambassador to Egypt and the German cultural attache on Thursday to assert their support to Khattab to win the UNESCO post.

Khattab is an Egyptian diplomat, who has led a long and distinguished career as a human rights activist. Serving in Egypt’s diplomatic missions in Australia, Hungary, Austria and the United Nations (New York and Vienna), she is a human rights activist advocating the rights of children and women, and functioning as former Chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child based at the U.N. Headquarters in Geneva.

Khattab was minister of Family and Population in 2011. She also served as Egypt’s ambassador to South Africa, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

UNESCO is the United Nations organization responsible for coordinating international cooperation in education, science, culture and communication.