Sudan, which ruled those sheikhdoms; and after a swift battle in 'Fadagno', the sheikhs of the three sheikhdoms were captured in 1898 and imprisoned for a period in Addis Ababa. The following year, Menelik extended his borders to the region of the Abara River, the Sobat, home of the Nuer and Anuak tribes, and generally, exploiting the escort of his forces by the French expedition heading towards Fashoda. Menelik's armies subjugated the conquered nationalities with extreme brutality, far exceeding the violence of their resistance. When resistance was widespread, all the nationalities were sold into slavery and all their lands confiscated.

Britain paved the way for Emperor Menelik to expand eastward towards the regions that were under Egyptian influence, when it forced Khedive Ismail and his son Tawfiq to withdraw from there under the pressure of the financial crisis. Menelik, through diplomacy, obtained vast areas east of the Horn and north of Zeila, reaching the borders in 1897. He also signed an agreement with the French in the same year, by which they ceded to him a large part of what became known as the Somaliland Protectorate, present-day Djibouti. Despite the resistance of the peoples of those regions, Somalis, Afars, and Harraris, united by Islam, Britain, after handing over these vast areas to Menelik, contented itself with asking him to treat the Somalis, who became Ethiopian subjects under the border arrangements, with respect.

Menelik allocated all these new lands with his absolute leadership, especially after the "Adwa" victory, with his known intelligence and diplomacy, and with his large army and modern weapons. Most importantly, he considered the dream of a unified, expanding empire as his primary goal, as evidenced by the circular he issued in 1891 to European countries, in which he clarified the borders of his country, including many of the areas he later expanded into and which were recognized by the three major European powers through border agreements signed with him.

During that period, Abyssinia and the three European powers divided the acquisition of lands and the demarcation of borders without regard for the inhabitants of those regions in terms of ethnic unity and the nature of their movements and migrations. This later led to tensions along those borders, especially on the Sudanese and Somali sides.