Chapter 317

March 14, 1871.

On the same day that Ernst visited Sweden, East Africa and Egypt formally signed the "Agreement on the Delimitation of the Border between the Kingdom of East Africa and Egypt", which determined the borders between the two countries.

Beginning in 1870, the Sudanese region of Egypt began to notice a sudden increase in the number of East Africans in the inland areas. Long before that, Khartoum had learned from the Buganda prince who fled to Sudan that the Kingdom of Buganda had been wiped out by East Africa. .

But around 1868, after East Africa integrated the original Kingdom of Buganda, it began to explore the Upper Nile Basin downstream along the Nile River. The Upper Nile Basin was densely covered with water networks and crisscrossed by rivers. East Africans could travel almost unimpeded in small boats. Follow the main stream of the White Nile River all the way to the Gezira Plains in Sudan.

At this time, East Africa was still a colonial period, and the main focus was on mapping and statistics of Sudan's rivers. However, during the Third War of Conquest, East Africa occupied the entire upper Nile Basin to connect the Azande Plateau and the Ethiopian Plateau.

It was almost the entire territory of South Sudan in the previous life. The conquest of South Sudan was easier than expected in East Africa. Both Turkana and North Great Lakes provinces could be reached by boat. It only took a dozen days to open up East Africa. All of South Sudan.

Then East Africa officially bordered Egypt. The sudden arrival of the East African army gave Egypt an unprepared surprise.

Egypt is naturally very nervous about the sudden arrival of East Africa, especially the Khartoum region, which is the core area of ​​Sudan. The Jezira Plain south of Khartoum is located between the Blue Nile River and the White Nile River. It is nearly 250 kilometers long and 120 kilometers wide. More than 1,000 kilometers long, the terrain is flat, gently sloping from southeast to northwest, and the soil is deep and fertile. It is the most important irrigated agricultural area in Sudan.

If the Gezira Plain is lost, Egypt's rule in Sudan will be completely abolished. Although the land area in other areas is larger, like the deserts on both sides of the Nile River in Egypt, it is an invalid land and has almost no use value.

Therefore, the Egyptian government urgently sent diplomats to the areas controlled by East Africa to prevent the East African kingdom from moving northward through negotiations. Although Egypt may not be inferior to East Africa in terms of strength, Egypt is inherently short of breath when facing Europeans. In addition, Egypt is in the south with Abiy There was a conflict in the Sinian Empire. In order to avoid fighting on two fronts, Egypt had to negotiate with East Africa in a humble manner.

Faced with Egypt's request for active negotiation, East Africa naturally wanted to make a killing. Ernst spent a whole day studying the map of the border between the two countries, and finally offered a very sincere price.

The negotiation location is in Egypt, located in Kusti, the southernmost port city on the Nile River. Kusti is on the left bank of the White Nile River, 260 kilometers away from Khartoum. It is a distribution center for cotton, gum arabic, livestock, fish, and grains. . It is a water and land transportation hub, an important port on the White Nile River, and the material exchange between Khartoum, Obayid and Juba passes through it.

The person responsible for signing the contract was Rahman, a high-ranking official in the Khartoum region of Egypt, and the temporary minister of the East African Kingdom to Egypt. The first minister to Egypt was named Miles.

Krusty.

Myers: "Mr. Rahman, this is the final resolution of our East African Kingdom on the border between the two countries. If the Egyptian side cannot accept it, then we can only express our regrets."

Rahman: "?!!!"

Rahman felt threatened, but for the benefit of Egypt, he resisted the urge to take the drawing in Miles' hand and read it.

"Mr. Miles, I want to explain in advance that the Darfur Sultanate is an independent country and is not under the control of Egypt." Rahman said to Miles speechlessly.

It's really strange that these East Africans just draw the lines casually without even knowing the territory of Egypt.

Miles: "Ah! I thought you were the one who made the decision in Darfur! You were just talking about the Darfur Sultanate, right?"

Rahman: "Yes, Mr. Miles, the Darfur Sultanate has always been an independent country, that is, it has some trade relations with us, and is regarded as our nominal vassal state, but it is too far away from us, so we in Egypt can The idea of ​​the Darfur Sultanate cannot be achieved.”

Miles nodded and said: "So that's it, what about the Kordofan region?"

Rahman: "The Kingdom of Kordofan is actually a country established by the Fur people. If you are interested in Kordofan, we can cooperate. The south belongs to you, but the north belongs to Egypt."

Unlike the highly independent Darfur Sultanate, the Kingdom of Kordofan is really the younger brother of Sudan. In fact, when Sudan was still an independent country, Sudan had plotted against Kordofan. The Bithynia Empire and the Kingdom of Kordofan fought.

Miles: "You mean that the Kingdom of Kordofan is your vassal state?"

Rahman: "Theoretically, this is the case, but the Fur people of Kordofan have relatively strong resistance to us, so we have only occupied part of the territory of the Kingdom of Kordofan."

In particular, Rahman wanted to throw the Nuba Mountains of South Kordofan in East Africa, where the Nuba people resisted the Sudan the most.

Miles didn't know this. He always thought that the north of the East African Kingdom was all Sudanese land. It seemed that he was delayed by the intelligence provided by the Kingdom. Ernst was inescapably responsible for this matter.

Miles said: "In this case, these two countries are your vassal states of Egypt anyway, so you still have some rights. You unilaterally sold them to us, and we in East Africa will handle the rest."

Rahman: "Is it like it is on the map?"

Miles: "That's right."

Rahman: "Okay, but we can only hand over the suzerain power of the two regions to you in the name of Egypt, and then you will have to resolve it with them."

Rahman does not care about the life and death of the Darfur Sultanate and the Kingdom of Kordofan. How can he show mercy to others? But then Rahman will have a serious breakup with the East African Kingdom.

Rahman: "Your Excellency, we don't care about the above two countries, but you have gone too far by adding the southern part of the Jezira Plain to your own territory! This has been our Egyptian territory since ancient times."

Miles: "But when our East African army went north, there were no residents here, and we didn't see any obstruction from your army. At the same time, there were no signs indicating that this was Egyptian territory."

Rahman: "The southern part of the Jezira Plain has always been Egyptian territory that has been accepted by all parties. Although we have not stationed troops there, even the Abyssinian Empire does not dare to declare sovereignty over this place at will."

Miles: "So that's the case, but after all, we have just arrived in East Africa and don't know much about it, and this is not our responsibility. If you, Egypt, had just seen the road signs there, you would not have had this misunderstanding."

There is no misunderstanding. The East African Kingdom occupied the southern part of the Jezira Plain to force Egypt to make concessions in other areas.

The plains of Gezira are to the Sudan what the lands along the Nile are to Egypt.

Rahman: "In this case, the misunderstanding between us has been resolved. Can your country withdraw from the southern part of the Jezira Plain?"

Myers: "Of course, but in order to ensure the safety of the Nile waterway, we must retain some land in the western region."

Rahman: "This..."

Miles: "We don't ask for much, mainly along the White Nile. We are not greedy about the Blue Nile."

Then Miles took out a pen and drew a north-south line in the southern part of the original Jezira Plain in front of Rahman.

Miles: "Most of the eastern part still belongs to you, we only need this small part of the western part."

Seeing that Miles only wanted a small area, Rahman finally breathed a sigh of relief: "Okay, this is reasonable."

Miles: "Then sign it! There will be no conflict of interest between the two parties from now on."

As a result, Rahman signed his name on the agreement, but he did not know that this agreement also completely announced that the oil resources in Sudan had almost bid farewell to Egypt.

Almost 99% of the oil fields were included in the East African Kingdom area, leaving only a drop of soup for Egypt in the future.

According to the content of the agreement: the Nuba Mountains south of the Sudanese city of Ubaid (Obayid) will be the boundary. The area to the south, including the Nuba Mountains, belongs to East Africa, and to the north belongs to Egypt.

According to the agreement, the southern part of the Kordofan Plateau, the southern part of the Darfur Plateau, and the southwestern part of the Gezira Plain were included in the Kingdom of East Africa.

That is to say, the three regions of South Kordofan, East Darfur, and South Darfur in North Sudan in the previous life were all included in East Africa, and the southwestern part of Blue Nile was included in East Africa.

Except for the southwest of the Jezira Plain, which truly belongs to Egypt, the remaining land is in the hands of the Darfur Sultanate and the Kingdom of Kordofan. East Africa still needs to conquer these two countries.

However, it is not difficult for East Africa to put Egypt, the strongest in the region, out of the way in advance. Without Egyptian intervention, it is not difficult for East Africa to defeat the Darfur Sultanate and the Kingdom of Kordofan.