The Egyptian Sudan 10 its flag, and at the same time English soldiers were raising the flag of their country over Egyptian forts. On June 3, 1884, Hunter concluded an agreement with Ras Al-Nijashi Yohannes concerning the Harrar region without consulting the Egyptian government or seeking its opinion, and established a local government there under the presidency of Abdullah Muhammad Abd Al-Shakur. As for Massawa, which Turkey handed over to the Khedival government in 1866 in exchange for an annual payment of 16,000 pounds, it was a province extending from Ras Qasr on the Red Sea, where the Suakin province ended, to Halat Rahaita at the Bab Al-Mandab strait, and extending inland to Sidarat near Kufra. This region is now called Eritrea. The Red Sea was purely an Egyptian sea, along with the Gulf of Aqaba and Al-Wajh fort, which the Egyptians built and maintained until 1889. On February 6, 1885, the Egyptian garrison was withdrawn from Zeila and returned to Egypt, and Zeila and Berber were handed over to the English. Even more strangely, for these lands taken from Egypt, Egypt still pays tribute to Turkey. The Lausanne Conference decided that Egypt would continue to pay this tribute until 1855.

*** The Egyptian forces in the Sudan at the time of the Mahdist revolt were, according to official statistics, 1950 in Dongola, 2170 in Berber, 7480 in Khartoum, 2350 in Sennar, 1610 in Qalliyat, 8000 in Al-Jazira, 2000 in Al-Qadarif, 39440 in Kassala, 9200 in Um Deba, 19000 in Senhit, 34700 in Harrar, 5830 in Kordofan, 4863 in Darfur, 8866 in Bahr Al-Ghazal, and 26314 in Equatoria. The total number of the Egyptian army in the Sudan was 40490, with 12 steamships in its service. The number of irregulars with the army was about 20,000, and the number of officials was about 30,000.