The candidates, Egypt’s Khaled el-Enany and the Republic of Congo’s Firmin Édouard Matoko, bring diverse expertise and visions for the future of the Paris-based United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Both contenders are widely recognized for their dedication to advancing UNESCO’s mission and fostering international collaboration.

Khaled el-Enany, an Egyptian antiquities expert and former tourism and antiquities minister, is supported by the African Union and the Arab League. He brings deep experience in cultural preservation, education, and heritage management, having worked as a tour guide through Egypt’s historic sites and earned a doctorate in France.

If chosen, el-Enany is expected to prioritize UNESCO’s cultural programs, including the protection of World Heritage sites, promotion of historical education, and efforts to combat antisemitism and religious intolerance. His election would mark a historic milestone as the potential first Arab leader of UNESCO, highlighting the organization’s global inclusivity and commitment to diverse perspectives.

Firmin Édouard Matoko, a Congolese economist and longtime UNESCO official, offers decades of experience in education, peacebuilding, and international development. Having worked in Rwanda, El Salvador, Somalia, and beyond, Matoko has a proven track record in delivering practical, impactful solutions in challenging environments.

He emphasizes the importance of moving UNESCO toward technical solutions, ensuring that its programs are efficient, effective, and responsive to local and global needs. Matoko’s vision includes expanding private sector engagement, strengthening educational programs, and maintaining budgetary rigor, which will help UNESCO continue its vital work even amid financial challenges.

Both candidates face the opportunity to lead UNESCO at a pivotal time. While the recent withdrawal of United States funding presents a budgetary challenge, it also opens the door for creative solutions, stronger partnerships, and renewed international collaboration. Both el-Enany and Matoko have pledged to explore new funding avenues, including private sector partnerships and contributions from emerging economies, ensuring that UNESCO’s projects continue to flourish worldwide.

Their leadership promises innovative strategies to maintain and expand UNESCO’s influence, particularly in areas such as global education, scientific research, and cultural preservation.

UNESCO’s work has far-reaching global impact. The organization is renowned for protecting World Heritage sites, supporting education for girls, promoting Holocaust awareness, and funding scientific research in developing countries.

Previous initiatives, such as the rebuilding of Mosul after devastation by Daesh, demonstrate UNESCO’s role in restoring cultural heritage and fostering resilience. With new leadership, these programs are expected to grow, benefiting millions worldwide while encouraging cross-cultural understanding and peace.

The selection of a new director also provides a unique opportunity for modernization and reform. El-Enany’s fresh perspective outside the UN system and Matoko’s extensive institutional experience both offer complementary approaches to strengthening UNESCO’s governance, efficiency, and global reach.

By leveraging their diverse skills, UNESCO can continue to lead on critical global issues, from education and science to cultural preservation and climate awareness.

As the executive board deliberates, the world watches with optimism. The next director-general of UNESCO will have the chance to reinforce the organization’s relevance, inspire international cooperation, and ensure that its programs continue to make meaningful impacts for generations to come. With capable, dedicated leadership on the horizon, UNESCO stands ready to embrace new opportunities, strengthen partnerships, and continue its mission of promoting knowledge, culture, and peace across the globe.

His effusive greeting of President Bashar al-Assad at the Arab summit with kissed cheeks and a warm embrace defied U.S. disapproval at Syria’s return to the fold and capped a turnabout in the prince’s fortunes spurred by geopolitical realities.

The prince, known as MbS, seeks to reassert Saudi Arabia as a regional power by using his place atop an energy giant in an oil-dependent world consumed by the war in Ukraine.

Shunned by Western states after the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by a Saudi hit squad, the prince has now emerged as a player whom Washington can neither disregard nor disavow, but must deal with on a transactional basis.

Skeptical of U.S. promises on Saudi security and tired of its scolding tone, MbS is instead building ties with other global powers and, regardless of Washington’s consternation, remaking his relations with their shared foes.

His blithe confidence on the world stage was not only visible in his reception of Assad. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy came to the Jeddah meeting and MbS offered to mediate between Kyiv and fellow oil producer Moscow.

To be sure Saudi Arabia still depends militarily on the United States, which saved it from possible invasion by Saddam Hussein’s Iraq in 1990, monitors Iranian military activity in the Gulf and provides Riyadh with most of its weapons.

Still, with Washington seemingly less engaged in the Middle East and less receptive to Riyadh’s anxieties, MbS is pursuing his own regional policy with less apparent deference to the views of his most powerful ally.

“This is a strong signal to America that ‘we’re reshaping and redrawing our relations without you’,” said Abdulaziz al-Sager, Chairman of the Gulf Research Center, of the summit.

“He is not getting what he wants from the other side,” Sager added, saying Saudi Arabia’s ententes with regional foes were based on Riyadh’s approach to regional security.

Diploma Offensive

MbS’ position strengthened last year when Western economies turned to Saudi Arabia to help tame an oil market destabilized by the war in Ukraine. It created the opportunity for MbS to launch a diplomatic offensive that included high profile summit appearances.

That effort was aided when Washington declared MbS immune from prosecution for Khashoggi’s killing despite his being directly implicated in it by U.S. intelligence.

A visit by U.S. President Joe Biden last July had already demonstrated Riyadh’s returning influence: The American leader left empty handed while the prince enjoyed a public display of U.S. commitment to Saudi security.

The Saudi pivot away from reliance on the United States was meanwhile evident when China mediated this year a settlement between Riyadh and its arch regional foe Iran after years of hostility.

The deal was not made from a position of Saudi strength: Iran’s allies had come out stronger than those of the kingdom in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, and held most of the populated territory in Yemen.

Still, it showed Riyadh was able to cut its losses and work with U.S. rivals and foes to shore up its regional interests such as cooling the Yemen war where Saudi forces have been bogged down since 2015.

Meanwhile the prince has improved ties with Turkey and ended a boycott of Qatar, a neighbour he considered invading in 2017 according to diplomats and Doha officials.

“Over the past three years, the hatchet was buried and relations were repaired,” said Saudi columnist Abdulrahman Al-Rashed in Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper.

Transactional Relationship

A Gulf official said the new, more directly transactional, relationship with the United States had replaced the old oil-for-defence model because of what Riyadh saw as a shakier security umbrella after the Arab revolts of 2011.

A senior State Department official said the relationship is “an important eight-decade one that spans generations, across administrations in our own country and across leaders in Saudi Arabia”.

“We have multiple interests when it comes to our relationship with Saudi Arabia…Our policy and engagement will seek to ensure that our relationship remains sound and able to meet our shared challenges of the future.”

Riyadh thought Washington had abandoned old allies during the revolts and might abandon the Al Saud dynasty too. At the same time it believed the U.S. pursuit of a nuclear deal with Tehran had led Washington to ignore the growing activity around the region of Iranian proxies seen by Riyadh as a threat.

That impression has strengthened. A Saudi source close to the ruling inner circle pointed to what he saw as lax enforcement of sanctions on Iran and a drawdown in Syria, where a small U.S. contingent has denied territory to Iran’s allies.

“I think countries in the region, as a consequence, will do what is best for them,” he said.

Meanwhile, Riyadh was annoyed that the U.S. pulled its support for Saudi operations in Yemen, launched after Washington repeatedly urged the kingdom to take responsibility for its own security.

Without direct American intervention or support for its own military efforts, Riyadh had little choice but to strike a deal with Iran even if that annoyed Washington, the source said.

“This is a consequence of the U.S. action,” he added.

Each side has a list of requests that the other is not willing to grant, the Gulf official said.

However both sides may have little choice but to put aside their grudges.

The kingdom may see the U.S. security umbrella as weakened, but still views it as crucial to Saudi defence. Western states have meanwhile remembered that Riyadh’s influence in a volatile oil market requires them to banish their qualms and deal with its de facto ruler and future king.

Earlier this month, the Arab world’s top diplomats agreed to fully reinstate Syria’s membership after a 12-year suspension over the Syrian government’s crackdown on protesters.

President Bashar al-Assad is set to attend the summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Friday, where he will likely rub shoulders with Arab presidents and kings who for years sought to weaken him.

His foreign minister Faisal Mekdad is already in Jeddah to attend the preparatory meetings and has held talks with his Jordanian, Emirati and Lebanese counterparts among others.

Lebanon’s foreign minister Abdullah Bou Habib said he had spoken to Mekdad about the return of refugees and curbing drug smuggling in the region, two issues that have been key to Arab countries’ negotiations with Syria in recent months.

This year’s summit, starting Friday in the city of Jeddah, will mark the readmittance of war-torn Syria into the 22-member league, after a 12-year suspension.

Syria’s membership was frozen following Syrian President Bashar Assad’s brutal crackdown on the 2011 mass protests against his rule. The country quickly descended into a civil war that has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half of the country’s pre-war population of 23 million.

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said Wednesday that the region is at a crossroads, facing a host of challenges. He called for cooperation between Arab countries to achieve security, stability and economic prosperity.

Bin Farhan also welcomed Syria’s return, as did the league’s Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit and Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf.

Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad held bilateral meetings this week in the kingdom with several of his counterparts as Damascus continues to appeal for much-needed investment in the war-torn country — crippled by the conflict and Western sanctions — and has moved to restore ties with Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, and Iraq.

Mekdad after the meeting told reporters that he hopes Arab governments will help with reconstruction and Syrian refugee returns. He hinted that Assad will attend the summit Friday. “Per usual, Syria cannot be absent from any summit,” he said.

Syria’s return to the Arab fold comes as Damascus is also trying to amend ties with Turkey, a key backer of the armed Syrian opposition groups in the country’s northwest.

But a few Arab countries remain skeptical of Syria’s return to the league, primarily Qatar.

Qatar’s top diplomat, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, said Wednesday that his country opposes Syria’s return but that it doesn’t want to stand “against the Arab consensus.” Each Arab country, however, can unilaterally normalize relations with Syria, he said.

For that to happen from Qatar’s perspective, Syria needs to go “through a just and comprehensive solution” to its conflict, Sheikh Mohammed added.

The summit also comes as Arab governments are scrambling to resolve the conflict in Sudan between the military, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. The fighting in the East African country, which broke out in mid-April, has left over 600 people dead and displaced tens of thousands.

In Wednesday’s meeting, top diplomats from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Algeria called for a cease-fire in Sudan and an end to the escalating violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

The 22-member Arab League agreed earlier this month to reinstate Syria, ending a 12-year suspension and taking another step toward bringing Syrian President Bashar Assad, a long-time regional pariah, back into the fold.

However, crippling Western sanctions against Assad’s government remain in place and could prevent oil-rich Arab countries from rushing to invest in Syria — or lead to a quick release of reconstruction funds in the war-battered country.

“We invite you to participate in investing in Syria, where there are important opportunities and promising horizons,” said the Syrian minister, Mohammed Samer al-Khalil, as he addressed the opening session of the conference Monday in Jeddah.

Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan also spoke, welcoming Syria’s return to the Arab League and saying he looked forward to working together “to achieve what we aim for.”

Syria earlier this month opened regional talks with Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Egypt in Amman, as part of an Arab-led initiative to resolve the Syrian conflict. Analysts say investments will likely be limited until Syria reaches a political solution to the conflict and resolves a host of other pressing issues — millions of Syrian refugees, a flourishing illicit drug trade and extremist militant groups.

It is unclear if Assad, who has been formally invited to the Arab League summit on Friday, will take part in it.

Syria was suspended from the league over Assad’s brutal cracking down on mass protests against his rule in 2011. The uprising quickly turned into a civil war that has killed nearly a half million people and displaced half of the country’s pre-war population of 23 million.

Last month, Syria’s Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad visited Riyadh and his Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, visited Damascus and met with Assad. Last week, the two countries agreed on reopening their embassies.

In his speech, al-Khalil also thanked Arab countries for sending aid to Syria following the February earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria, killing over 50,000 people, including more than 6,000 in Syria.

In addition to Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt have also renewed ties with Damascus, following normalization efforts from the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain years ago.

Still, Kuwait, Morocco, and Qatar, remain opposed to normalizing relations with Syria and Qatar continues to be a key backer of Syrian rebel groups fighting Assad.

Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani received an invitation from Prince Mansour bin Khalid bin Farhan, the Saudi ambassador to Qatar.

Another letter was delivered to Sultan Haitham bin Tariq by the Kingdom’s ambassador to Oman, Abdullah bin Saud Al-Enezi, and was accepted by the sultan’s special representative Sayyid Asaad bin Tariq Al-Said.

While Saudi Arabia-Oman relations were examined in Muscat, bilateral relations between Saudi Arabia and Qatar were discussed in Doha.

Associated Press

Syria is returning to the Arab fold even though there is no sign of a resolution to the country’s uprising-turned-civil war, now in its 13th year.

The Arab League’s decision to re-admit Syria after shunning it for 12 years was a significant symbolic victory for Damascus, part of a larger regional realignment and an indication of the United States’ waning role, analysts say.

But it may not immediately bring the reconstruction dollars that Syrian President Bashar Assad is hoping for. Nor is it likely to bring the changes Syria’s neighbors want, such as an agreement on refugee returns and moves to reduce drug trafficking.

Syria is returning to the Arab fold even though there is no sign of a resolution to the country’s uprising-turned-civil war, now in its 13th year. The long-stalemated conflict has killed nearly a half million people since March 2011 and displaced half of the country’s pre-war population of 23 million. Multiple mediation attempts have failed.

The league approved Syria’s readmission at a closed-door meeting in Cairo on Sunday. It means Assad can attend the league’s summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on May 19, further cementing his move out of pariah status.

What Is The Arab League And Why Was Syria Suspended From It?

The Arab League is a 22-member organization founded in 1945 to promote regional cooperation and resolve disputes. But it is widely seen as toothless and has long struggled to help solve conflicts, especially in the recent era of wars in Syria, Yemen and Libya and a bitter diplomatic rift between Gulf monarchies and Qatar years ago.

The league suspended Syria’s membership in 2011 after Assad’s government cracked down brutally on mass protests against his rule, an uprising that quickly descended into a brutal civil war. Qatar and Turkey funneled support to armed opposition groups trying to overthrow Assad, who was backed by Russia, Iran and militias affiliated with Tehran.

Why Let It Back In Now?

After years of deadlock in the war, Assad’s government has a secure grip on most of the country, particularly most main cities. Opposition groups or U.S.-backed Kurdish forces control most of northern and eastern Syria — and that’s unlikely to change any time soon — but it has been clear for years now that an opposition overthrow of Assad is virtually impossible.

Arab governments that may have once hoped for that outcome are now deciding it’s better to reach out.

“We’re not looking for magical solutions, but what we do know is that the current situation is unsustainable. It’s going nowhere,” Saudi political scientist Hesham Alghannam said. “We don’t know when the conflict will end, and boycotting the regime didn’t lead to a solution.”

In recent years, several Arab countries moved towards reestablishing diplomatic ties, most notably the United Arab Emirates in 2018. Jordan and Syria reopened their borders in 2021. Last month, Saudi Arabia and Syria announced they are moving to reopen embassies and resume flights.

The devastating Feb. 6 earthquake that hit Syria and Turkey also sped up rapprochement, bringing sympathy for Syria. More than 6,000 people were killed in Syria and hundreds of thousands lost their homes. Senior officials from once-hostile countries visited Damascus for the first time in over a decade and sent planeloads of aid.

Approaching Assad under the pretext of the humanitarian crisis was a less controversial way to continue improving ties.

Another boost was the Chinese-brokered deal to reestablish ties between Saudi Arabia and regional rival Iran, which is encouraging them to de-escalate conflicts like Syria and Yemen.

Also, the United States’ “de-prioritization of the Middle East and particularly of the Syria portfolio” led regional actors to work out their own deals with Damascus, despite Washington’s objections, said Randa Slim, director of the Conflict Resolution and Track II Dialogues Program at the Washington-based Middle East Institute.

Which Countries Were For And Against It?

Saudi Arabia played a key role in pushing for Syria’s return to the Arab League, hosting a meeting last month to discuss the topic. Jordan hosted another gathering earlier this month.

Qatar remained the most prominent hold-out. However, after Sunday’s decision to readmit Damascus, Qatar said in a statement that it “will not be an obstacle” to “an Arab consensus.”

Kuwait also has not endorsed normalization, said Bader Al-Saif, assistant professor of history at Kuwait University.

Kuwait “wants to know what the conditions are, what the political solution looks like. Will there be elections? An apology? Anything?” he said. Despite these key skeptics, al-Saif said Riyadh will continue to push for Damascus to work for a “more robust and integrated Arab order.”

One main criticism of the rapprochement is that Assad has made no concessions toward a political deal to resolve Syria’s conflict. Without a credible resolution, millions of Syrians who fled abroad — many to neighboring countries — will be too afraid to return.

What Will Happen On The Ground?

On the symbolic level, Syria’s return to the league signals to opposition Syrians that “they are left on their own,” Slim said, and confirms to Damascus that its scorched-earth strategy in the war worked.

But on a practical level, “a seat at the Arab League is not that powerful,” she said.

U.S. and European sanctions will likely prevent Arab countries from significant investments in reconstruction in the near future.

Many Syrians in government-held areas hope to see a benefit in greater trade with the Arab world to help to offset a crippling economic crisis.

That could happen, Alghannam said. “If there is stability, I believe there will be an influx of Gulf investment and trade with Syria.” Still, he noted, Saudi-Syrian relations were strained even before the Syrian conflict, “so confidence-building will take time.”

A statement issued by the Arab League after Sunday’s meeting suggested that Syria’s further reintegration will depend on moving towards a political solution to the conflict, combating drug trafficking and facilitating the return of refugees. Gulf countries have also pushed for Damascus to curb Iranian influence in Syria.

Maha Yahya, the director of the Beirut-based Carnegie Middle East Center, said it is unlikely that Syria will meet Arab countries’ demands.

As such, she said, “I honestly don’t think this move is going to open the floodgates of support for Syria.”

The decision on Sunday by foreign ministers of Arab League countries consolidates a regional push to normalise ties with President Bashar al-Assad, whose country was suspended from the body in 2011 following his crackdown against the opposition.

Since then, hundreds of thousands have died, millions have been displaced both internally and abroad and infrastructure has been ravaged by years of bombardment.

Readmitting Syria into the Arab League was a “shock” for Syrians and would “kill the political process”, said Bader Jamous, the head of the opposition’s negotiating team in stalled United Nations peace talks.

The opposition was for years backed by countries now supporting normalisation, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Writing on Twitter, Jamous said Assad’s opponents had “not been consulted” about the Arab League decisions.

Swathes of northern Syria are still held by Turkey-backed rebel groups and protests against normalisation with Assad have flared up there in recent months.

The Syria Campaign, which campaigns for victims of rights abuses in Syria, said Sunday’s move “sends a chilling message” and drilled “a final nail in the coffin of the hopes for freedom and democracy of the Arab Spring.”

Others were more positive. The Syrian Democratic Council, the political body that governs the semi-autonomous regions of northeast Syria, said it “welcomed” the decision to lift Syria’s suspension in a statement on Monday.

Some Syrian political activists with ties to the government – including former deputy prime minister Qadri Jamil – cautiously encouraged the move in an online statement.

They said it allowed for a regional Arab role, which could lead to “a positive outcome within the Syrian file.”

And a Facebook page publishing news from the campuses of various Syrian universities posted a stock photograph of Syria’s seat at the Arab League with the caption: “After 12 years, the Arab League comes back to life.”

Syria called on Arab states to show “mutual respect”.

The Arab League readmitted Syria on Sunday after more than a decade of suspension, consolidating a regional push to normalise ties with President Bashar al-Assad in a move criticised by Washington.

The decision said Syria could resume its participation in Arab League meetings immediately, while calling for a resolution of the crisis resulting from Syria’s civil war, including the flight of refugees to neighbouring countries and drug smuggling across the region.

While Arab states including the United Arab Emirates have pressed to end Assad’s isolation, some have been opposed to full normalisation without a political solution to the Syrian conflict, seeking conditions for Syria’s return.

Qatar, which had previously opposed Syria’s return to the League, said its position on normalisation had not changed and it hoped regional consensus on Syria could be “a motive for the Syrian regime to address the roots of the crisis”, a foreign ministry spokesman told state news agency QNA.

“The reinstatement of Syria does not mean normalisation of relations between Arab countries and Syria,” Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit told reporters in Cairo. “This is a sovereign decision for each country to make.”

Syria called on Arab states to show “mutual respect”.

A U.S. State Department spokesperson said Washington shared the goals of Arab partners in Syria, including building security and stability, but remained “sceptical of Assad’s willingness to take the steps necessary to resolve Syria’s crisis”.

“We do not believe Syria merits readmission into the Arab League at this time,” the spokesperson said, adding that U.S. sanctions would remain in full effect.

Captagon Trafficking

Sunday’s decision said Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt and the Arab League’s Secretary General would form a ministerial group to liaise with the Syrian government and seek solutions to the crisis through reciprocal steps.

Practical measures included continuing efforts to facilitate the delivery of aid in Syria, according to a copy of the decision seen by Reuters.

Syria’s readmission follows a Jordanian initiative laying out a roadmap for ending Syria’s conflict that includes addressing the issues of refugees, missing detainees, drug smuggling and Iranian militias in Syria.

Jordan is both a destination and a main transit route to the oil-rich Gulf countries for captagon, a highly-addictive amphetamine produced in Syria, and has hinted it could take unilateral action to curb the multi-billion dollar trade.

A Jordanian official said Syria would need to show it was serious about reaching a political solution, since this would be a pre-condition to lobbying for any lifting of Western sanctions, a crucial step for funding reconstruction in Syria.

Syria’s membership of the Arab League was suspended in 2011 after the crackdown on street protests against Assad that led to the civil war. Several Gulf states including Saudi Arabia began backing rebel groups fighting to oust Assad from power.

Assad later regained control over much of Syria with the help of his main allies Iran and Russia, but the war cost hundreds of thousands of lives and led millions to flee the country. Syria remains splintered with its economy in ruins.

Recently, Arab states have been trying to reach consensus on whether to invite Assad to an Arab League summit on May 19 in Riyadh to discuss the pace and conditions for normalising ties.

Responding to a question over whether Assad could participate, Aboul Gheit told reporters: “If he wishes, because Syria, starting from this evening, is a full member of the Arab League.”

Saudi Arabia had long resisted restoring relations with Assad but said after its recent rapprochement with Iran – Syria’s key regional ally – that a new approach was needed with Damascus.