The embattled opposition politician, Leditu Ayalew, has authored a 170-page book in Amharic; he hopes its distribution will bring political redemption for his otherwise embellished name.

Leditu, once viewed by his supporters as one of the icons of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), fell from grace following his dissent with the CUD leadership over the unification of the four parities that make up the Coalition.

Although Dr. Admassu Gebeyehu, president of his base party, EDUP-Medhin, put his signature to the unification when it had been agreed on, and was himself elected second vice chairman of the CUD/P, with to a huge fanfare held at the Global Hotel, on September24, 2005. Lidetu spearheaded a campaign within his own executive committee that finally declined to endorse an application to the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE).

To date, the NEBE does not recognize the CUD as a unified party, but a coalition of parties created in the run-up to the May election. Several of his supporters turned against him, accusing him of obstructing CUD's path to political victory because he said he and his allies in the EUDP-Medhin wanted to ensure sufficient consultations before the merger got completed.

Public suspicion, that was created when he accused of CUD leadership as "dictatorial and conspiratorial" grew even stronger when the government left him free, while close to 23 of his colleagues in the CUD leadership were arrested and remain in custody, accused of instigating and orchestrating the violence in November 2005. Police told the Supreme Court last week it has finalized its investigation and has handed the case over to the prosecutors who are to open charges of treason.

" When the public knows the truth, it will understand me," Lidetu told Fortune.

His new book, Yearem Ersha (The Weed Farm), consisting of nine chapters, will have 10,000 copies in the first edition with a shelf price of 13 Br, according to Lidetu.

According to book sales analysts, the book will sell fast in large numbers as the public is familiar with the author as having recently been very controversial.

Lidetu, 36, born in Wollo, northern Ethiopia, has been an active member of opposition politics for the past 13 years, and was first introduced to the political scene when he joined the All Amhara People's Organization (AAPO). He is known for his role as head of the youth wing before his split to play a major part in the formation of the Ethiopian Democratic Party (EDP), which finally became EUDP-Medhin after several mergers of its own.

Lidetu said his first book discusses the current Ethiopian political situation. The first five chapters focus on how he was able to enter the world of politics and his experiences there in. The second half of the book concentrates on the run-up to the May elections and the controversies in post-election politics, including the divisive moments of the opposition bloc.

Lidetu told Fortune that he had wanted to write such a book for sometime now but had never had the serious urge or the time. The situation that he finds himself in following his party's break from the CUD gave him the daring that he was looking for. He added that while opposition politics has been tried many times in this country, the public's view towards the opposition parties, fuelled by propaganda of those in power, was the real inspiration that had pushed him to finally write this book.

He believed that it was time that the public should be told what really happened by those who were part of this process.

" I would like to read it," said a second year student of Addis Abeba University and one of his disgruntled supporters. "I want to give him the benefit of the doubt before I make up my mind about him for good."

A political science lecturer at the same university was not as generous in her outlook. She told Fortune, anonymously, that Lidetu could not pick a worse time than now; the public is in a rebellious mood against the establishment and more interested with what is going on in the trial of those arrested CUD leaders. Although it may be a futile exercise in regaining the public confidence he craves, the book nonetheless has good prospects in terms of copy sales, according to this lecturer.

While waiting for the book to be published, the full time politician is now busy with organizing the fourth general assembly of his party, and registering people who will participate.