![]() ![]() ![]() Wylde, the former British vice consul at Jeddah, who recorded these words in a dispatch to the Manchester Guardian: His mistrust is clearly expressed in a conversation carried out with Augustus B. Battle of Dogali in 1887Īlthough he had collaborated with the British against the Mahdists, Ras Alula chief interest was to guarantee Ethiopian sovereignty, which made him very wary towards the English who he suspected supported the Italians’ encroachments. As part the European Scramble for Africa, at this time the Italians took control of the Red Sea coasts, occupying Massawa and Saati with the tacit approval of the British, which was a violation of the Hewett Treaty. However events beyond the Horn of Africa gave Ras Alula very little time to recover from the battle. ![]() Nevertheless, Alula advanced into the territory of the Bogos, then entered Keren in September 1885, where he stayed for ten days, then marched on Kufit.Īt Kufit, Osman Digna’s forces were annihilated, but the Ethiopians also suffered significant losses: the commanders Blatta Gebru and Aselafi Hagos were killed, and Ras Alula himself was wounded. Ras Alula prepared for his campaign against the Mahdists, despite the opposition of certain local leaders who did not accept his rule. In the Hewett Treaty, concluded in 1884, the United Kingdom recognized Bogos and Massawa as possessions of Ethiopia in return for Ras Alula’s help evacuating the Egyptian garrisons of Amedeb, Algeden, Keren, Ghirra, and Gallabat which had been isolated by the Mahdists, and because of these successes the British once more asked for his help against the Mahdists under Osman Digna. ![]()
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