  We study localization properties of a one-dimensional disordered system
characterized by a random non-hermitean hamiltonian where both the randomness
and the non-hermiticity arises in the local site-potential; its real part being
random, and a constant imaginary part implying the presence of either a
coherent absorption or amplification at each site. While the two-probe
transport properties behave seemingly very differently for the amplifying and
the absorbing chains, the logarithmic resistance $u$ = ln$(1+R_4)$ where $R_4$
is the 4-probe resistance gives a unified description of both the cases. It is
found that the ensemble-averaged $<u>$ increases linearly with length
indicating exponential growth of resistance. While in contrast to the case of
Anderson localization (random hermitean matrix), the variance of $u$ could be
orders of magnitude smaller in the non-hermitean case, the distribution of $u$
still remains non-Gaussian even in the large length limit.
