THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
week before we arrived. We were ushered
into Doe's large office, where he greeted
us from behind his large, semi-circular
desk, complete with a stereo radio-tape
deck, or "box." Doe's voice is very soft
and he had little to say. But he was
gracious in his remarks about Israel and
American Jews and he was especially
gracious in offering us his personal jet to
fly us to the Ivory Coast that afternoon
as a means of apologizing for having in-
convenienced us the day before.
The 20-seater Swissair plane was nicely
decked out with plush leather seats and
sofas, a bar and tape deck; the 75-minute
flight was the high point — literally and
figuratively — of our trip.
When we landed, Abidjan, the Ivory
Coast capital, looked like a different
world, with a bustling, modern down-
town complete with large, attractive of-
fice buildings and six-lane roads. A
former French colony, the country has
maintained its French style in language,
currency and ambience. "I feel like I live
in Europe and commute to Africa," one
U.S. Embassy official based in Abidjan
told us.
Israel's presence is evident through
numerous construction projects under-
taken by Sonitra, an Israeli company
based in the Ivory Coast, including
roads, the presidential.palace, an almost
completed Catholic cathedral (see May 17
issue) and our hotel, the Ivoire, a lux-
urious resort complete with a huge swim-
ming pool, elegant shops, restaurants,
movie theatre, bowling alley and gam-
bling casino.
The contrast between Liberia and
Ivory Coast is difficult to describe. We
had left our cramped, spartan, towel-less
hotel rooms in Monrovia for the comfort
of large, air-conditioned rooms in Abid- ,
jan with soft, plush towels, color televi-
sion (including movie channels) and
telephones in the bathrooms.
We were told, though that Abidjan's
sophistication and sense of economic
stability is a bit of a facade. The national
life expectancy is only 47 years, and
beyond the . modern skyline of Abidjan
are numerous tribes and villages, many
of them very poor.
We saw both wealth and poverty in
Cameroon, the last of the three African
countries we visited, where the names of
cities sound like the back-up noises
popular in old rock and roll songs:
Kumba, Bafant, Douala and Yaounde.
We visited the latter two cities, the major
port and national capital, respectively,
and were treated like royalty as guests
of the government. We were chauffeured
about in sleek new black Mercedes limos
and put up in beautiful two-room suites
(plus balcony) in a luxury hotel overlook-
ing a well-groomed golf course in the love-
ly mountains of Yaounde.
It was there that we met President
Paul Biya in his presidential palace, a
large, exquisitely-appointed mansion
straight out of the Wizard of Oz: polished
marble floors, leather walls, wide brass
staircases. The building is so beautiful
that the authorities do not permit photo-
graphs, reportedly to downplay the lav-
ishness to the people of Cameroon, many
of whom live in small, cramped huts
within a mile or two of the president.
The president himself was apologetic
about the mansion, pointing out that it
had been built by his predecessor. Presi-
dent Biya is a handsome, sophisticated
man who appears to be in his late 40's.
He was impeccably dressed and received
us in a well-appointed living room area of
his huge office. He shared a sofa with
Robert Goldmann, the chairman of our
delegation, the two men conversing in
French with a translator filling us in. The
president spoke softly and sincerely of
his appreciation of Jewish accomplish-
ments throughout history and his warm
Friday, July 5, 1985
feelings towards Israel.
It was a heady last stop for our African
visit, which took us from the squalor of
coastline Monrovia to the heights of
palatial splendor in Yaounde.
As we headed home, we assured our
Israeli hosts that while we were fas-
cinated by what we had seen and learned,
none of us was prepared to make aliyah
to Africa.
A priceless conversation piece: we all bought
Dr. Doe watches on our last day in Liberia as
a remembrance of our trip.
A dancer at the
Cultural Center in
Liberia performs a
double-jointed classic.
A common scene: women and children line
the road at small stands, selling cigarettes
and nuts.
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