Egypt hosts UNESCO-Arab initiative to protect heritage against extremists

International and Arab senior officials launched here on Wednesday a campaign seeking to protect heritage of artifacts and antiquities against destruction by extremists and terrorists.

During the "Culture under Threat" conference held at the Museum of Islamic Art in Egypt's capital Cairo, UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova launched the "Unite4Heritage" initiative in cooperation with the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities.

The campaign came in reaction to the video released in April by the Islamic State (IS) regional militant group that showed their destruction of parts of a palace in Iraqi Nimrud ancient city before destroying the entire site with explosives.

Bokova expressed rejection of destroying human heritage in the name of religion, stressing that ignorance of others and extremism are against cultural diversity.

She said that destruction of monuments by terrorist groups in the Middle East has reached an unprecedented rate, referring to the UNESCO efforts in repairing the monuments ruined by extremists in Iraq and Mali.

For his part, Egyptian Antiquities Minister Mamdouh Damaty said the "Unite4Heritage" initiative came on the sidelines of the "Culture under Threat" conference attended by representatives of 10 Arab states to find ways to protect the peoples' human heritage.

The conference was also attended by head of the Cairo-based Al-Azhar moderate Islamic institution, Grand Imam Ahmed al-Tayyib, who denounced destruction of human heritage as completely rejected in Islam. Endit