Juju Justice

No African nation boasts a more elegant capital or a more mellifluously named ruler than the Ivory Coast. President Felix Houphouet-Boigny dwells in a $12 million palace resplendent with 52 types of marble and an air-conditioned wine cellar. The French government spends $50 million a year in aid on its former colony in order to make Abidjan a showcase of French influence -- but it remains a showcase for much else besides. At a hastily called meeting of foreign diplomats and government officials, the President last week revealed that he had come within a fork's length of being assassinated by --of all things--juju.

From a suitcase H.B. produced two miniature coffins containing photographs of himself, some bottles of doubtful-looking potions, and other tools of the black magician's trade. "For a Westerner," he said, "all this may seem childish, but we are at the heart of a great drama being played in black Africa. These fetishes are the root of the problem, because behind each one there is poison."

The poison in the bottles he brandished had been intended for his food, Houphouet reported, just in case the hexed coffins did not work. But the word got out (witchmen are notorious gossips), and the perpetrator had already gone to his reward. He was Ernest Boka, 36, until two weeks ago president of the Ivory Coast's Supreme Court and the third man in line of succession behind Houphouet. Boka had confessed, Houphouet claimed, and then hanged himself by his pajama trousers in the prison shower. So does justice catch up with the juju man, Houphouet warned.

His scorn rang a trifle hollow. Although he possesses a medical degree from the University of Dakar, Houphouet has been known to consult the omens of juju himself before making decisions, and even his name has a special juju meaning. In his native Baoule dialect, Houphouet means "pit of excrement"--a phrase intended to scare off devils.

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