Abstract
The author of the play from which the excerpt below is taken is an Ethiopian writer and journalist who was born in Asmara (Eritrea) in 1938. After a brief period as a teacher, he worked as translator, feature writer, commentator and disc jockey for Radio Addis Ababa (1957-60). In 1959 he was appointed Private Secretary to the Minister of Information, but had to leave the country two years later, after he had become a spokesman for the Decembrist Movement opposed to Emperor Haile Selassie.
He was not to return home for almost 15 years, during which time he lived in Egypt, Algeria and various European countries, founding and editing underground periodicals in both Amharic and English. He also wrote about Ethiopia for Dutch and Belgian newspapers, and from 1968 to 1974 worked as an editor and announcer on the Amharic Service of Deutsche Welle radio in Germany.
After his return home on the overthrow of the Emperor in 1974, Alem Mezgebe became manager of the Ethiopian Television Service. He was dismissed because of his resistance to interference by the military authorities and, finding himself in danger of his life, he last year went into exile for the second time and now lives and works in London.