§86 Co)uio Agreemod, 12.5.94.

(4.)

AGREEMENT BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN AND HIS MAJESTY KING LEOPOLD II, SOVEREIGN OF THE INDEPENDENT STATE OF THE CONGO, RELATING TO THE SPHERES OF INFLUENCE OF GREAT BRITAIN AND THE INDEPENDENT STATE OF THE CONGO IN EAST AND CENTRAL AFRICA.

Signed at Brussels \2th May, 1894.

The undersigned, the Honorable Sir Francis Richard Plunkett, a Knight Grand Cross of the most distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George, Her Britannic Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the King of the Belgians on behalf of the British Government, and M. van Eetvelde, Officer of the Order of Leopold, Grand Cross of the Orders of St. Gregory the Great, of Christ of Portugal, and of the African Redemption, etc.. Secretary of State of the interior of the Independent State of the Congo, on behalf of the Government of the Independent State ©f the Congo, duly authorised by their respective Governments, have agreed as follows : — His Majesty the King of the Belgians, Sovereign of the Independent State of the Congo, having recognised the British sphere of influence, as laid down in the Anglo-German Agreement of the Ist July, 1890 (No. 129), Great Britain undertakes to give to His Majesty a lease of territories in the Western basin of the Nile, under the conditions specified in the following Articles : Boundary. North of German Sphere. Watersheds between the Nile and the Congo.

Art. I. (a) It is agreed that the sphere of influence of the Independent Congo State shall be limited to the north of the German sphere in East Africa by a frontier following the 30th meridian east of Greenwich up to its intersection by the watershed between the Nile and the Congo, and thence following this watershed in a northerly and north-westerly direction.

(6) (Defines boundary from R. Zambezi to Lake Tanganyika.)

Lease of certain territories by Cheat Britain to the Congo State. West shore of Lake Albert and Watershed between the Nile and the Congo.

Art. II. Great Britain grants a lease to His Majesty King Leopold II, Sovereign of the Independent State of the Congo, of the territories hereinafter defined, to be by him occupied and administered on the conditions and for the period of time hereinafter laid down.

Boundaries.

The territories shall be bounded by a line starting from a point situated on the west shore of Lake Albert, immediately to the south of Mahagi, to the nearest point of the frontier defined in paragraph (a) of the preceding Article. Thence it shall follow the watershed between the Congo and the Nile up to the 25th meridian east of Greenwich, and that meridian up to its intersection by the 10th parallel north, whence it shall run along that parallel directly to a point to be determined to the north of Fashoda. Thence it shall follow the " thalweg " of the Nile southward to Lake Albert, and the western shore of Lake Albert to the point above indicated south of Mahagi.

This lease shall remain in force during the reign of His Majesty King Leopold II, Sovereign of the Independent Congo State.

Nevertheless, at the expiration of His Majesty's reign, it shall remain fully in force as far as concerns all the portion of the territories above-mentioned situated to the west of the .30th meridian east of Greenwich, as well as a strip of 25 Idiom, in breadth, to be delimitated by common consent, stretching from the watershed between the Nile and the Congo up to the western shore of Lake Albert, and including the port of Mahagi.

This extended lease shall be continued as long as the Congo territories as an Independent State or as a Belgian Colony remain under the sovereignty of His Majesty and his Majesty's successors. Flag.

Throughout the continuance of a lease there shall be used a special flag in the leased territories.

Lease of Territory by Congo State to Great Britain between Lake Tanganyika and Lake Albert Edward.

[Art. III.* The Independent Congo State grants under lease to Great Britain, to be administered when occupied under the conditions and for a period hereinafter determined, a strip of territory 25 kilom. in breadth, extending from the most northerly port on Lake Tanganyika, which is included in it, to the most southerly point of Lake Albert Edward.

This lease will have similar duration to that which applies to the territories to the west of the 30th meridian east of Greenwich.]

* This Article was withdrawn by a Declaration signed 22nd June, 1894 (vide below).