THE KHARTOUM MUTINY.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 285, 1 December 1924, Page 4

THE KHARTOUM MUTINY.

If Egyptian troops proper had mutinied in the Sudan after what had happened in Cairo, it would not have been surprising, but the mutiny broke out in one of the battalions composed of men of whose loyalty British officers would feel certain. The Sudanese soldier comes of a fighting stock, and as a soldier he has always been ranked higher than the Egyptian. He gave admirable service in the campaign that freed the Sudan. It was Hector Macdonald's brigade composed mainly of Sudanese that got into serious difficulties in the advnnce after tho main attack of the Khalifa had been crushed. Attacked in flank and rear, and caught in deployment, it was near disaster, but Macdonald handled his men in masterly fashion, discipline told, and the Sudanese stood their ground well until a British regiment came to their aid. There is no reason to suppose that the mutiny means more than that some of the Sudanese troops were corrupted by Egyptian agitators. It is known that agitation lo further the Sudan for Egypt movement has been going on for some time, and the promoters would naturally try to seduce the Sudanese army. Among the peoples of the Sudan there is no appreciable desire to have the Egyptians back as rulers, though it is possible that as memory of the ghastly day 3of Cairo and Mahdist rule fades into the past appreciation of what the British have done declines. "In a single generation."' says an English writer, "the Sudan has passed from violence and savagery to order and the beginnings of prosperity. . . . Were we to leave, the Arab raiders and the elephant poachers would alone benefit." The most serious aspect of this present trouble is its relation to the crisis in Cairo. It will make it more difficult to work with Egyptians both in Hgypt itself and the Sudan, more difficult to reconcile in Egypt political independence with the protection of British interests, nnd in the Sudan British trusteeship with Egypt's acknowledged stake in the country.