African intellectuals have a number of things in common. One of these is their belief in witchcraft. Many decision makers, unaware that this scourge is not peculiar to the continent alone, go as far as to consider the practice as an African value to be jealously guarded from being stolen by the West. If you venture to ask them what sorcery is, some would look at you as if you were half-witted, believing the answer to be obvious. They will tell you for instance that every day in the city and in the country side alike, evidence of its manifestation abound. Proofs? There is plenty of it. Then, they will proceed to narrate tales, each as extraordinary as the other, in which the witnesses often just happen to be someone; tales in which a legend, an epic and history become one and the same thing. The more modest ones will tell you: These are complicated matters, and it is better not to interfere with village matters. The less we talk about it the better! . Yet, talk about it, we must! Not only that, we must discuss it and even make it the subject of in-depth studies, because witchcraft does indeed exist in people's everyday lives at all levels of the social ladder. Visit a hospital for instance and conduct a survey on the number of sick patients who are convinced that their condition is linked to spells cast by sorcerers, and you will be convinced. Every day, the newspapers tell of the many atrocities committed against poor citizens accused of witchcraft under the near benevolent watch of law enforcement agencies and the political authorities who do not wish to interfere in village matters . In some African countries, albinos are tracked down to be offered up to fetishes in money-making rituals. And in others, it is defenceless old widows that are humiliated and banished from their communities under the pretext that they have eaten the souls of relatives or neighbours. Our politicians are not left out: often times, their best advisers are ignorant illiterates reputed to be great sorcerers. In effect, even though everybody agrees that witchcraft is a social reality, the content that each one ascribes to that concept does not enjoy the same general consensus. African intellectuals must thoroughly debate this issue in order to give it a precise outline and determine its deep causes. In Europe, if witchcraft is almost no longer a matter for discussion in urban centres, it is simply because on the one hand, education and research have contributed greatly to unraveling the mysteries that constituted the foundations of the phenomenon, and on the other hand, because the rate of illiteracy there is negligible. Up until the 17th Century, people who were accused of witchcraft were subjected to the big question, and inevitably ended up being burnt on a stake in the public square, under the watchful eyes of inquisitors.