UNESCO Leadership Race: Congo’s Quiet Power Play vs Egypt

Key Takeaway on UNESCO Succession

The November 2025 vote to choose UNESCO’s next director-general has distilled into a North-South African duel. Congo Brazzaville fields veteran insider Firmin Edouard Matoko, while Egypt advances former culture minister Khaled El-Enany. Beyond personalities, the race will shape how the agency navigates looming US disengagement, rising heritage diplomacy and Africa’s quest for greater normative weight.

Audrey Azoulay’s Two-Term Legacy

Arriving in 2017, Audrey Azoulay doubled UNESCO’s annual budget from 450 to 900 million dollars and placed heritage at the heart of multilateral soft power. Nineteen African sites entered the World Heritage List under her watch, compared with eleven during the previous mandate, while thirty-seven intangible elements from the continent were inscribed, nearly half of global additions (Oumar Keïta).

Supporters credit her with depoliticising debates and raising the agency’s profile through projects such as “Revive the Spirit of Mosul”. Critics, however, label her approach top-down and technocratic, arguing that civil-society voices were marginalised and sensitive conflicts – Gaza is cited – were avoided (Lynn Meskell). This mixed scorecard defines the terrain her successor must navigate.

An African Duel Takes Shape

Initially four, the field contracted to two after discreet withdrawals in April. Both remaining contenders embrace what they call an open-door policy, pledging to consult member states and NGOs more systematically. Yet their support bases differ markedly. El-Enany enjoys the formal endorsement of the African Union and the Arab League as well as declared backing from France and Germany. Matoko relies on Central African solidarity and the quiet but growing interest of francophone and Lusophone blocs.

Firmin Matoko: Brazzaville’s Inside Candidate

The 69-year-old Congolese has spent three decades inside UNESCO, most recently as Assistant Director-General for Priority Africa and External Relations. Staffers describe him as a bridge-builder who “knows every corridor of the place” (Oumar Keïta). His manifesto stresses continuity rather than rupture: reform without destabilisation, a sharper focus on youth and women, and an insistence on cultural sovereignty for the Global South.

For Brazzaville, Matoko’s bid aligns neatly with President Denis Sassou Nguesso’s external policy of responsible multilateralism. Securing the top job would amplify Congo’s soft-power voice on education, climate and forests, complementing its mediation efforts in the Central African sub-region. Observers underline that the campaign is financed transparently through the foreign ministry, mindful of avoiding perceptions of undue influence.

Khaled El-Enany: Egypt’s Scholarly Challenger

At 54, El-Enany brings academic gravitas as an Egyptologist and ex-minister who oversaw Cairo’s Grand Egyptian Museum roll-out. He brands UNESCO “the house of all peoples” and vows to twin heritage promotion with fiscal discipline. A Spanish diplomat predicts he can “steady the books” following any renewed American exit. Lynn Meskell applauds the prospect of an archaeologist returning scientific depth to the directorate.

Budget Clouds and U.S. Withdrawal Horizon

Washington rejoined UNESCO in July 2023 but signalled that congressional renewal is uncertain beyond 2026. A second withdrawal would erase roughly eight percent of the agency’s income, down from the 22 percent share lost in 2011. Whoever wins must diversify funding, court philanthropic trusts and design contributory models that shield core programmes from geopolitical mood swings.

Congo’s Soft Power Moment

Congo Brazzaville rarely commands headlines in the crowded arena of cultural diplomacy, yet its forests anchor global climate negotiations and its jazz rhythms animate francophone festivals. A Matoko victory could extend this narrative, positioning Brazzaville as a convening hub for science education, digital literacy and heritage start-ups across Central Africa. Such visibility dovetails with national development plans emphasising knowledge economies and regional integration.

Possible Timetable and Diplomatic Scenarios

Campaigning intensifies from September 2024, when both teams tour capitals before the Executive Board’s informal hearings. Formal deposit of programmes is due in March 2025, followed by televised debates in June. Should neither candidate secure a two-thirds majority in the first ballot, back-channel compromises could invite a consensus figure, but seasoned negotiators believe an African succession is already locked in given the continent’s unity vote.

Context, Actors, Scenarios

Context: UNESCO balances normative mandates with political headwinds dating to the Cold War. Actors: beyond the two candidates, France eyes continuity, while China and India weigh budget-linked leverage. Scenarios: sustained US engagement would ease fiscal stress; a fresh withdrawal would test the new chief’s fundraising acumen. Either way, Africa’s cultural renaissance remains the common thread of both platforms.

A Laboratory for Peace Revisited

Oumar Keïta argues that UNESCO must “re-embrace its founding purpose as a laboratory for peace and dignity”. Matoko and El-Enany echo that call in different registers, one anchored in institutional memory, the other in scholarly renewal. When delegates file into the Executive Board chamber next year, they will in effect vote on how boldly Africa intends to steer the twenty-first-century multilateral order.