3rd September.
On the 3rd September, 300 negro recruits reached Kartoum from Lardo in the Equatorial provinces, and these were shortly followed by 1100 Bazingers, (untrained soldiers from Dar-Fertit[298]), sent by the Mudir of the Bahr-el-Ghazel district.
Defeat of a large relief column sent to Kordofan. 25th October.
1882.
Defeat of the Mahdi near Bara.
A relief column of two battalions of regular troops and 850 Bashi Bazouks, altogether 3000 strong, under Ali Bey Satfi, set out from Duem towards the end of September to attempt to raise the siege of Bara. It suffered terrible privations on the way, the rebels having filled in all the wells along the road between Abu Shoka and Bara (seven days’ march). The troops had almost nothing but the juice of wild melons and dhoora stalks to quench their thirst. They were continually harassed by the enemy, but were not attacked in force till they approached El Kona, when Ali Satfi Bey and all the senior officers were killed. The losses of the Egyptians amounted to 1100, besides 1150 rifles and a large quantity of stores and ammunition. The remainder of the troops were at length rallied by a captain, and succeeded in driving off the enemy. They then continued the march to Bara, and were met some distance from the town by the garrison, which had come out to their assistance. The Mahdi was then encamped at a water station in the neighbourhood of Bara. On the 25th October the garrison made a sortie, and attacked and defeated him, but subsequently retired within the entrenchments.
After the repulses at El Obeyed and Bara, the Mahdi was deserted by many of his followers, and his forces in Kordofan appear to have been quite shattered for the time. So much was the danger for Kordofan thought to be over, that, when the Mudir of Darfur appeared at Omchanga about the end of October with a considerable armed force, his proffered assistance was declined.
Demand for reinforcements from Cairo.
A report having reached Kartoum that the above-mentioned relief column had been totally destroyed, the Governor-General telegraphed to Cairo that he must have reinforcements of at least 10,000 men. He stated that without a large force at his disposal the insurrection would spread through all parts of the Soudan, and that then the pacification of the country would require an army of at least four times the strength of that for which he asked.
During Arabi’s short tenure of power, he had but little time to devote to the affairs of the Soudan, and no reinforcements were sent there; in fact, orders were actually given for some of the troops to be withdrawn from there to Egypt to assist in the war against the English.