Egypt and the Sudan 325
being at all. He calls all the inhabitants of this country
the abid, or slaves. Even tinder British rule there have
been appalling cases of cruelty and tyranny on the part
of Egyptian officials, temporarily free from British super-
vision/' Nor does this witness allow any doubt as to
what would happen if the Sudan were surrendered to
Egypt. " The only hope for the country would be that
the Egyptian would never face its hardships, and would
just leave it alone. The wild no-man's-land on the
borders of Abyssinia is the meeting ground of all the
desperate characters of the East. Swahilis, Beluchis,
Persians, Somalis, and outcast Europeans form camps
there fos the sole purpose of raiding the slaves and ivory
of the Sudan."
If, then, as seems obvious, there can be no question
of surrendering this region wholly to Egypt, can a com-
promise be effected that would be fair to the interest
both of the Sudanese and of the Egyptians by establish-
ing a joint Anglo-Egyptian administration? That such
a reduced claim could fairly be put forward by Egypt is
certain. For, apart from interest in Nile water, the prin-
cipal cities of the northern zone, such as Khartum,
Adowa, and Kassala, were founded during the Egyptian
occupation, and until 1925 the country was occupied
and policed mainly by Egyptian troops. Moreover, the
Convention of 1899 and the condominium it established
seems to imply, though it does not specify, an associa-
tion of Egyptians with English in the administration.
Thus the condominium was, indeed, publicly proclaimed
by the flying of both flags side by side and by the fact
that the Governor-General of the Sudan was also the
Sirdar or British Commander-in-Chief of the Egyptian
army, while most of the first British officials adminis-
tering the Sudan were officers in the Egyptian army. In