Anglo -Egyptlan Sudan 31 RECONQUEST under Mahmud, was attacked and routed in its posi tion on the Atbara. On September 2 the Khalifa him self and his main army of 40-50,000 men fell upon the Anglo -Egyptian army of 22,000 men , under the Kerreri hills, a few miles north-west of Omdurman . The Khalifa lost 27,000 men killed and wounded , and the survivors fled to the desert . He himself escaped, to be finally caught and slain in battle at Um Debreikai on November 24 , 1899 . Before this , the Sirdar had hastened south to meet the French expedition under Marchand at Fashoda (Kodok) on September 19, 1898 ; and the Anglo-Egyptian claim to the whole valley of the Upper Nile was presently recognized by the French Government, Marchand leavingFashoda and making his way to the French Somali coast. Sennar , Karkoj, Roseires, Gallabat, and Fazogli were retaken, and El Obeid was occupied on December 17 , 1899 . The Sultanate of Darfur was re -established , and Ali Dinar, one of the Khalifa’s prisoners at Omdurman, was restored to the throne of his ancestors as client prince . Osman Digna, the vigorous and elusive leader ofthe Dervish forces in the eastern Sudan, was captured on January 18, 1900 . On December 22, 1899, Sir Reginald Wingate succeeded Kitchener as Sirdar and Governor -General of the Sudan , a post which he re tained for seventeen years . The whole work of the regeneration of the Sudan has taken place under his auspices. The total cost in money of the reconquest of the Sudan ( 1896-99 ) was £E . 2,412,000, of which the British Government contributed some£E.780,000 . But the country was found devastated, depopulated, and ruined . The harder task of reconstruction remained II . THE REGENERATION OF THE SUDAN , 1899-1917 ( 1 ) The System of Government The first task after the reconquest was to establish the political status of the Sudan and to make provision for its government. The shadowy claims of Turkey could in justice and in safety be completely dis