THE SOUDAN RAIDS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1027, 17 January 1911, Page 5

THE SOUDAN RAIDS.

BHEIEHS, BROUGHT TO BOOK. Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. Cairo, January 15. Tho'mission to : Darfur of Slatin Pasha, Inspector-General' in the Soudan, to bring pressure ,to bear on the native sheikh's, jrith a. view /to ' preventing raids in tVadai,' has' been successful. .- . Wadai,'.. the scene of the jece'nt encounter between the local Sheikhs and a French force, .which was repulsed with •heavy losses, lies due east of Lake' Tchad, along the western frontier of the Egyptian Sudan, it forms-part of'the vast territory .south of Tripoli, which was defined-'as, being within the French sphere of influence by .the. Anglo-French Agreement of 1899. Wadai accepted, tho French Protectorate iu-1903, but the Btate itself and' the surrounding country have been the scene of frequent disturbances since that time, and serious fighting was reported from it only six'months ago.:' Its disturbed condition is attributed mainly to the incursion of the Musulman- slave-raiding, bands which British troops have driven out of the Egyptian Sudan, and which still apparently; endeavour to carry on their evil trade by way of Borku to Tripoli. No doubt such bands are' partly' to. blame, but an interesting .note ■ from a "Times" special correspondent: .in West Africa, shows that there, are other agencies at work., The Turkish-Government did. .not at. the 1 time accept tho Anglo-French Agreement in regard to the territory lying north and east of Lake Tchad, arid signs are not wanting that Turkish influences are active there at the present time. There has'been, moreover, r considerable importation of arms through Tripoli .and Tibesti, which is. doubtless responsible for a gopd-deal of tho violence displayed in Wadai. Tho - French column, which had advanced from. Abeshr to tho capital of the Massalit, seems to . have been outnumbered, by more than fifteen.