RABAT: The Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) will hold a workshop from July 16 to 19 on protecting endangered cultural heritage in member countries in West Africa. The ISESCO, which was founded by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation 40 years ago, is organizing the workshop in cooperation with the Culture, Arts and Tourism Ministry and the ISESCO Regional Center for Training Museum Specialists. The workshop will be held in the context of ISESCO’s proclaiming 2019 as the year of heritage in the Islamic world. It will examine the most successful ways of maintaining cultural heritage in member states in Africa and look at how to prevent looting, smuggling and illicit trade of the museums’ pieces. It will also cover effective mechanisms to protect monuments and to promote national legislative procedures to address the violent extremism that seeks to destroy the cultural heritage of West Africa and the Southern Sahara. Recently, the ISESCO launched an initiative to register 100 tangible and intangible heritage cultural monuments of OIC member states on the Islamic World Heritage List.