Egyptian Sudan 50 On May 28, 1897, the advance resumed, and the troops entered Abu Hamed on July 7. On September 7, the gunboats captured Berber. A British correspondent accompanying the campaign described it at the time, saying, "We wonder today about the danger of the Mahdia that threatened Egypt; where is it and what is it?" On October 25, the gunboats reached Atbara, and Mr. Dawkins, the Egyptian Financial Undersecretary, stated in his report that the Dongola province had cost the Egyptian budget 8 million pounds. News arrived that the French were occupying Fashoda, so the Sirdar hastened his advance, reaching with his vanguard and gunboats Shandi on March 26. On April 8, the force of Prince Mahmoud was reinforced, and the British government decided that the Egyptian government would waive the money it had taken from it in the current account, amounting to 798,803 pounds, because one-third of this money was agreed upon for the railway line that was laid with the army, which was considered a segment of the "Cape-Cairo" railway. At the same time, a company was formed in London to purchase the Sudanese railway lines, and Cecil Rhodes arrived in Cairo to negotiate with the Egyptian government about it. Al-Ahram reported his conversation with Mustafa Pasha Fahmy at the time, which caused the world's newspapers to be shaken. Sultan Abdulmejid then sent a memorandum to Khedive Abbas warning him against ceding this military line to a foreign power, as this cession would be a confiscation of the provisions of the Khedivial decree. On September 1, the gunboats advanced, bombarding Omdurman and demolishing the dome of the Mahdi's tomb. At dawn on September 2, the Dervish masses attacked, but were mown down by cannons and machine guns. Kitchener entered Omdurman. On September 15, 1898, he captured the Dervish camp at Rantih. An emir informed him that he had gone to secure the Nile passage in the Shawak lands, but was intercepted by a group of white men residing in Fashoda Castle. Lord Salisbury had sent a telegram to Lord Cromer on August 2 stating, "If General Kitchener reaches Khartoum..."