Kpo-Kahankro, a village in central Ivory Coast, is still in shock over 21 deaths in the last two months. Some believe powerful magic is at work and are accusing a prominent villager of installing an object of witchcraft also called a fetish, that they say is behind it all. “I say that it is the fetish that destroys the village,” says the village chief, Nanan Patrice Koffi. The authorities say they have found traces of a common but deadly bacterium, clostridium, both on the fetish and on corpses that they tested. Found in soil and the intestinal tracts of animals, include humans, the microbe can cause botulism -- a disease that causes vomiting and muscle paralysis. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES ARRANGED IN SEQUENCES N°339763K