Earlier this month, Italy ‘s National School of Heritage and Cultural Activities (SNPAC) and the École du Patrimoine Africain (EPA) in Porto-Novo, Benin, launched a training course on combatting the illegal trafficking of antiquities. Launched on October 5, the course is the first of its kind, the result of a three-year agreement between the SNPAC and the EPA for training and research in the management of cultural heritage and museums.

Professionals from Algeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Morocco, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Senegal, and Tunisia are participating. The course will include training by Italy’s Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, informally known as the Carabinieri Art Squad, which claims to have recovered over 3 million cultural items and seized over 1 million forged artworks since its inception in 1969.…