Paris  - Controversial Egyptian Culture Minister Farouk Hosny will face Bulgarian diplomat Irina Bokova in a run-off election to become director general of UNESCO, diplomatic sources said Monday.

Hosny and Bokova were the two top vote-getters in Monday's fourth round of voting to find a successor to Koichiro Matsuura, although neither of them received the necessary majority of the 58 voting members of the UNESCO executive council.

The run-off vote is to be held Tuesday, with the winner being confirmed at a UNESCO General Assembly on October 15.

Hosny has been accused of anti-Semitism on the basis of a number of inflammatory statements, including last year's public declaration that he would personally burn any Israeli book found in the library of Alexandria.

Although Israeli authorities have been largely silent about Hosny's candidacy, sources close to UNESCO said that the US government has waged a determined behind-the-scenes campaign against him.  dpa