THE WAR BETWEEN EGYPT AND DARFUR.

Globe, Volume III, Issue 208, 8 February 1875, Page 3

THE WAR BETWEEN EGYPT AND DARFUR.

{Pall Mall Gazette.') The Germau traveller, Dr Nachtigal, writing on the 19th of August last from El Obeid, sends to the Cologne Gazette some interesting information about the war between Egypt and Darfur:— He says that when he was in Boron in 1870 and 1871 news anived that the Baharas, a tribe of traders and slave and elephant hunters, had plundered and occupied part of the country to the south of Darfur. Those invaders wore led by two chiefs, Zeber and Mohammed, the latter of whom had been supplied with men and arms from Egypt. After a time Zeber and Mohammed quarrelled, and in the struggle which ensued Mohammed was killed. Zeber, who is brave, clever, and ambitious, then made overtures to the Egyptian Government for the incorporation with Egypt of the territories to the south of Darfur. These overtures were well received, but no definite arrangement seems to have been arrived at. Meanwhile Zeber gradually established himself in the regions he had conquered. After the death of Sultan Hassin, of Darfur, in the spring of last year, he attacked and defeated the Kizegats, an Arab tribe on the borders of Darfur, which had hitherto remained independent, and the Egyptian Government then appointed him “ mudir ” of the conquered territory, and sent him 1600 soldiers, with a few guns. The successor of Sultan Hassin, Sultan Brahim, who, says Dr Nachtigal, “ appeared to me a welldisposed, not unintelligent man of forty, but without either the sagacity or the experience of his father,” sent an expedition against Zeber at the beginning'of the present year which was a complete failure, the Sultan’s troops having been totally defeated, and his vizier and other high dignitaries killed. Since then Egypt has been preparing for an invasion of Darfur, The forces under Zeber were increased, and instructions were given to the Governor-General of Egyptian Soudan. Dr Nachtigal learned the news of the Sultan’s defeat on the day he arrived in Darfur from Waday; and great alarm was expressed at Fad jar. the seat of the Government, when it was found that regular troops had been sent to Zeber trom Egypt, though the people still refused to believe that their country was in danger. He remained at Fadjar more than four months, during which time Zeber gradually extended his conquests on the frontier. Dr Nachtigal left Fadjar at the beginning of last iluly, after Sultan Brahim had by his advice sent his brother-in-law with presents as a peace offering to the Khedive, The authorities in all parts of the country were then inspecting the ablebodied men of their respective districts, ihe Sultan having ordered them to be sent to the southern frontier, and thereto wait, events. “ The east of Darfur,” proceeds Dr Nachtigal, “ is thinly peopled, much more so than the centre and the west, and its inhabitants consist chiefly of foreign elements. The most numerous are the Arabs, next come the Bertis, and the Furians and Massabats form a small minority. These heterogeneous elements make the eastern side of Darfur very easily assailable. The Bertis are a race subdued by force of arms. The Arabs arc entirely devoid of patriotism, and the Massabats are a tribe akin to that of the Furians, hut almost entirely exterminated. I accordingly found but little disposition to defend the country in Eastern Darfur.” On arriving at El Obeid he found Ismail Pasha Ayub, the Governor-General of the Soudan, preparing to march into Darfur. His forces were not large. They consisted only of 1000 infantry, 160 of whom were armed with breechloaders, three field guns, with their gunners, and 500 cavalry, 600 more being on their way from Khartoum. But Ismail was only to make a flank march, the main force being under Zeber. He had 2000 Egyptian infiantryand cavalry, six guns, and about 6000 of his own men, “ hardy sons of the desert, who go to war without beasts of burden, luggage, or tents, and who take more care of their muskets and ammunition than of themselves.” As to the prospects of the war, Dr Nachtigal thinks that the Darfurians will at any rale make a stand in the vicinity of their capital, which contains all their treasures, and that if they are defeated by Zeber they might withdraw to the Marra mountains in which case the campaign would be a long one Fadjar itself cannot be defended ; it is a straggling village with gardens and fields between the houses, open and unprotected on all sides. But the country has ample means of repelling an invasion. “It can produce about 4000 cavalry, and as every male inhabitant out of a population of 5,000,000 is armed, some hundreds of thousands of infantry. These men are, however, undisciplined, and only a few hundreds of them know how to use a musket. . . - It is possible, too, that if a decisive blow is not speedily struck, Sultan Ali, of Waday, may be called in as an ally; and he would not hesitate for a momdnt to go into the field against the ‘ Turks,’ for he has long been disturbed by tbe Baharas almost more than Darfur itself, and regards the integrity or the independence of Darfur as indispensable guarantees of the free existence of his own country. A treaty was accordingly concluded between him and the late Sultan ’of Darfur for their mutual protection against any attack on the part of Egypt.”