Egyptian Sudan 16 Assiut to Hussein Pasha Khalifa, the administrator of Berber, by telegram, ordering him to inform the notables and elders of the country that he has been appointed governor of Sudan, and that upon his arrival he will dismiss all Turkish and Egyptian officials and appoint rulers from the people of the country to restore the rule to what it was before the conquest. He also exempted the people of Sudan from the taxes of 1883 and permitted the slave trade. When he reached Kordofan, he sent a letter to the Mahdi stating that he had appointed him Sultan of Kordofan and Darfur. Upon his arrival in Berber, he addressed the people, saying that he came to expel the Egyptian soldiers from Sudan and restore the rule to the Sudanese themselves. He then appointed a Shura Council to govern that region from the Sudanese and opened the way to Muhammad Ahmad. People flocked to him after Gordon's proclamation, increasing his strength, either out of fear or love for him. When he reached Khartoum, he did the same, and in addition, he gathered the financial ledgers and burned them in front of the public to increase the confidence of the Sudanese and weaken the hearts of the Egyptians. Then he expelled the Egyptian army from Khartoum and formed a council of Sudanese to govern the country. After that, he sent Stewart Pasha, his agent, to see how his actions had affected the country. He found that the revolt was general and leaderless, and that the Mahdi did not wish to negotiate with the English and reach an agreement with them, as he had hoped when he proclaimed him Sultan of Darfur and Kordofan. So he began to look for a strong man to appoint as ruler and negotiate with. He requested Zubair Pasha from Egypt and promised him the rank of Lieutenant General, the Ottoman Order, an annual salary of 6,000 pounds, and that the Egyptian government would give him two and a half million pounds annually for two years, leave him their weapons and ammunition, and grant him the port of Suakin. Zubair did not accept and did not surrender to the English, fearing that he would be like the Mahdi or join him. So they decided to leave the mandate to Sudan until they could regain it. But the position