FRANCO-BRITISH INTERESTS IN AFRICA.

Evening Post, Volume LVII, Issue 69, 23 March 1899, Page 5

FRANCO-BRITISH INTERESTS IN AFRICA.

-^ 0 THE PROMISED SETTLEMENT ARRIVED AT. DEFINITION OF THE RESPECTIVE SPHERES OF INFLUENCE. BRITAIN RETAINS THE NILE TERRITORIES. BUT FRANCE IS GRANTED COMMERCIAL PRIVILEGES. rPBESS ASSOCIATION.] London, 22ad March. Lord Salisbury, Foreign Minister for Great Britain, and M. Paul Cambon, the French Minister in London, have signed an agreement for the delimitation of the possessions and spheres of influence of their respective countries in Central Africa. The agreement is regarded as supplementary to the Niger Convention. Under the terms agreed upon Great Britain retains Bahr-el-Ghazal and Dar-Fur, in Central Africa. France is to receive less extensive areas, which include Wadai, Bagirmi, and Kanem a territory to the north-east of Lake Tchad, where British and French influence previously met. The French territory will extend as far north as the latitude of the fifteenth defjree. Great Britain recognises that the French sphere of influence is to extend as far to the south of Algeria as the Tropic of Cancer and as far to the east as the confines of the Libyan Desert, which extends from the Nile to Lake Tchad, between the fifth and fifteenth parallels. Both nations are to concede commercial equality over the territories affected. France is permitted to have a commercial establishment on the Nile and its tributaries but neither Power is to exercise either political or territorial rights outside their respective frontiers. [This is evidently the general settlement of the Franco-British troubles as to Central Africa, which it was semi-officially promised a fortnight ago would be disclosed this week. Before any recent map of Africa the territorial arrangement can be approximately traced. Briefly put, Britain retains her interest in the areas drained by the Nile and its tributaries, and France secures rights to the regions extending irom her present possessions of French Congo, on the western side of the continent and from Algeria on the Medi-tex-ranean coast. There is some room for doubt as to which Bahr-el-Ghazal it is that falls under British influence. The Bahr-el-Ghazal that has been most in public mind for the last year was the district passed through by Major Marchand's expedition on its way from French Congo to Fashoda. Though it takes its name from a subbranoh of —a Bahr-el-Arab, the great western affluent of the Nile, it is really an immense range of country traversed by dozens of tributaries of the main river. As yet it has not been extensively opened up to commerce, but the possibilities of such a fertile region are enormous. There is another region known as Bahr-01-Ghazal, situated just to the east of Lake Tchad. As, however, the areas immediately surrounding this are ceded to France, it is almost certain that it is the more important Ghazal region that Britain secures. Dar-fur lies to the north of the .bahr-el-Arab, and extends approximately from lOdeg to 16deg north latitude, and 22deg to 28deg east longitude, but its geographical limits have not been clearly defined. It' is hilly in parts, and towards the north is level, sandy, and almost destitute of water. During the rainy season (JuneSeptember) it exhibits a rich vegetation. The principal products are wheat, millet, rice, maize, and sesame. Tobacco, which is used by the natives in every form, abounds. Water-melons also are abundant during the rainy season. Among the f raits are tamarinds and dates. The chief minerals are copper and iron. The wealth of the inhabitants consists principally in cattle. Horses, sheep, camels, and game abound. Dar-fur carries on a considerable trade with Egypt, Mecca, and the inland countries of Africa, and it was formerly a notorious centre of the slave trade. Its inhabitants, who are known as the Fulahs. are an intelligent, well-built race, and have long been Mahommedans. Their numbers have been variously estimated at between three and four millions. Now as. to France's acquisitions. Wadai is the country immediately to ..ue west of Dar-fur, and has a population estimated at from three to six millions. Kanem . and Bagirmi are to the west of Wadai, the former to the north and the latter to the south-east of Lake Tchad. Bagirmi has a population of about a million and a half, and its soil yields durra and millet, which the natives barter for to* bacco, pearls, and cowry shells. The Libyan Desert, which is defined as tha eastern limit of French influence, is the great desert to the west of Egypt Proper.]