In a posting on its website, the Foreign Affairs Ministry on Thursday

refuted claims that King Norodom Sihamoni had lobbied for the election

of Algeria's former foreign affairs minister for the top post at the

United Nation's cultural arm, Unesco. The posting came after a recent

article in the Algerian newspaper El Khara, which said Sihamoni had

been in contact with Mohammed Bedjaoui to support him in a bid to

replace current Unesco general director, Koichiro Matsuura, of Japan.