CAIRO—Egypt’s decision to cut ties with the Louvre may have some wondering if the move stems from bitterness over Egyptian Culture Minister Faruq Hosni's failure to be elected as head of UNESCO, but an Egyptian official says it's not true. 

According to Le Monde, France had originally planned to vote for Hosni, but in the end did not during the final round of voting. That result has not been officially confirmed, however. UNESCO instead chose Bulgarian Irina Bokova as its new director-general. Hosni’s campaign ran into trouble after accusations of anti-Semitism.

Still, Egypt's antiquities chief insists that the disagreement with the Louvre dates back to January, long before the UNESCO elections. Egypt is angry that the Louvre holds four reliefs that were taken from the walls of a pharaoh’s tomb in the 1980s. A French committee will decide today whether they should be returned to Egypt.

Read more at Agence France-Presse.