Didier Bouakaze-Khan

Dr. Didier Bouakaze-Khan serves as a Senior Antiquities and Cultural Heritage Consultant at The Soufan Group, building on extensive experience in cultural intelligence, forensic archaeology, and illicit antiquity trafficking from the Middle East and North Africa.

Dr. Bouakaze-Khan is currently affiliated with a civil society organization where he oversees information relevant to investigations into antiquity looting and heritage destruction. Dr. Bouakaze-Khan’s intelligence reports and briefings are used by law enforcement agencies in several jurisdictions to assess and determine where there is sufficient evidence to open court cases that could lead to a conviction. 

In 2015, Dr. Bouakaze-Khan occupied a seat on the Advisory Board of the UK Government Cultural Protection Fund- CPF. During this time, he provided strategic advice, assessment, and guidance on threats and opportunities to cultural heritage protection in warzone-impacted environments in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, and Afghanistan.

He is now conducting critical assessments as a Specialist Assessor for the CPF. Dr. Bouakaze-Khan has provided his insight on the involvement of mercenary groups, such as the Wagner Group’s involvement in facilitating antiquity trafficking or participation in the destruction of heritage in Ukraine, the Sahel region, North Africa, and Syria.

His other roles have included serving as a professor or Research Director with numerous institutions such as the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Türkiye, the American University of Beirut, University College London, and Witwatersrand University in South Africa. Dr. Bouakaze-Khan holds a PhD in Archaeology & Anthropology from Sorbonne University in Paris (2002).