EXPATS

The time is November, 1972. The location is Karanuba, a Central African state and one time a British colony, now independent under the Peerless One and his secret police, the Fut Fut. The rains are late and a five year insurrection led by General Gabriel Guevara Malanga is reaching its anti-climax with the occupation of Matole, a mission village and school in the remote, undeveloped Northern Region. A dinner party at St. John's Secondary School, Matole brings a group of expatriates together, all with different motives for being in Karanuba. As they dine and analyse Africa and the Africans, they are surrounded by the rebels at the commencement of what many believe is a decisive move in the protracted civil war but what the cynical Malanga calls his "swan song". The rebel leader could advance sound military reasons for occupying the mission but the truth is that he has taken it because St. John's School has the only marching band in the country. The occupation is meant to bring the war to an end without loss of face but the Peerless One reneges on a secret agreement made with Malanga and the mission is attacked.