Eventually, he returned to Bahir Dar and started a wholesale textile business, but debts to his printers remained at the time of his death.

The play was published two months before the attempted 1960 coup and was clearly written to mirror the Ethiopia that Abe saw under Haile Selassie.

In his preface Abe notes that the publication of several his books was being delayed, which most likely refers to the government censorship, but that he had no patience to wait any longer for this one.

Abe portrays Lumumba as a freedom fighter and as a martyr to his people, while blaming the racism of Western governments and the complicity of Joseph Kasa-Vubu and Moïse Tshombe for his assassination.

It appeared at a time when Ethiopia was attempting to mediate rifts that the Congolese crisis had created at the Third All African Peoples’ Conference in Cairo and was therefore censored heavily.

[14] Poet and critic Debebe Seifu considered the novel both politically naïve and lacking in literary style, with its obvious allusions to mid-twentieth century Ethiopia providing its value.

[17][18] The Savage Girl was poorly received, with critics citing that too little thought was given to dramatic production and the use of verse was badly constructed.

[20] In 1968 Abe published አንድ ለናቱ (His Mother's Only Child) a 688-page novel based on the life of Emperor Tewodros II.

Abe's interest in Tewodros was far from unique, with novels about the Emperor also written by Makonnen Endelkachew, Berhanu Zerihun and Sahle Sellassie Berhane Mariam.

But as with much of his work, this position was also made in opposition to Haile Selassie, who fled the country during a time of crisis, while Tewodros died at the Battle of Magdala.

Peter Nazareth, who participated in the program in the same year, recalled how Abe was hostile towards Americans because he saw their government as supporting the rule of Haile Selassie.

Nazareth also recalled how Abe was confrontational towards other writers, including arguments with Kole Omotoso and Ashokamitran, and that he tried to strangle a female Japanese author.

ፓለቲካና ፓለቲከኞች (Politics and Politicians) is a play published in 1976 or 1977 after it was performed at the Hager Fikir Theatre the previous year.

Many of Abe's books and newspaper articles were openly critical of the governments of Emperor Haile Selassie and later the political repression of the Derg.

This led to repeated government censorship and an attempt to divert him away from writing with the offer of a high-ranking position as a provisional administrator.

[3][4][26] It was Abe's political position and confrontations with the government that provided much of his fame, with some critics suggesting this has led to his work being overrated.