Operations Against the Senussi

SENUSSI, OPERATIONS AGAINST THE. Military activity of the Senussi from 190o to 1910 had been directed against the French in the regions between Lake Chad and the Nile Basin. There was evidence of an increase of adherents to the sect in Egypt and Arabia ; in north-west Africa and the Sudan it had made practically no headway. During 1911 the Senussi Sheikh, Sidi Ahmed, aided the Turks in their campaign against Italy in Cyrenaica. After the treaty of Lausanne, in Oct. 1912, by which Turkey agreed to evacuate Tripoli and Cyrenaica, Sidi Ahmed continued the war against the Italians, who were powerless to penetrate into the interior.

At the outbreak of war in 1914 the Germans and Turks saw in the Senussi a powerful instrument for attacking the British posi tion in Egypt and the Sudan. For long Sidi Ahmed resisted the efforts to embroil him with Egypt, with which he had always maintained good relations. But the adherence of his enemy, Italy, to the Allied cause in May 1915 gave his Turkish advisers a powerful lever and finally the influence of Nuri Bey, a half brother of Enver, prevailed.

The plan instigated by the Turks and Germans was for simul taneous advances on Egypt along the coastal strip and by the oases leading from Siwa to the Nile. At the same time the sultan of Darfur was to rise, invade Kordofan and advance on Khar toum. The danger to the British in Egypt and the Sudan was not so much in the military force actually at the command of Sidi Ahmed and his allies as in the spiritual authority he exercised and the possibility of a religious rising.

Hostilities began on Nov. 15, 1915. The small garrisons of Es Sollum and other advanced posts were withdrawn, and Mersa Matruh was made the base for the British operations. The difficulty was to collect a sufficient force, for during the Gallipoli operations Egypt had been practically denuded of troops. The force assembled under Maj.-Gen. A. Wallace consisted of Yeo manry, Territorials, Australians, New Zealanders, Indians and Egyptians. The Senussi leader had a few Turkish troops with him, about 5,000 of his own regular forces and a varying number of irregular tribesmen.

A Decisive Engagement.

Gen. Wallace succeeded in strik ing a severe blow at the enemy on Christmas Day, 1915, but the rainy season and a lack of troops and transport prevented any further attempt to bring the enemy to battle till Feb. 1916. On Feb. 20, Maj.-Gen. W. E. Peyton, who had succeeded Gen. Wallace, began an advance to re-occupy Es Sollum. On Feb. 26 at Agagya, about half-way to Es Sollum, a decisive engagement was fought. The infantry, which included two South African battalions, captured the Senussites' position. In the pursuit the Dorset Yeomanry, by a fine charge, broke the enemy and cap tured Jafar Pasha, an able Baghdadi Arab who commanded the Senussites. There was little further fighting. Es Sollum was re occupied on March 14, the enemy retiring into Cyrenaica. Dur ing Feb. and April 1916, the Senussites, under Sidi Ahmed himself, occupied the Bahariya, Farafra, Dakhla and Kharga oases, but made no further advance. The British had at the time no forces available for re-occupation, but kept the oases under observation by aeroplane.

Meanwhile the rebellious sultan of Darfur, Ali Dinar, in May 1916, was attacked and defeated by a force from the Sudan under Lieut.-Col. P. V. Kelly. The sultan himself was killed in Novem ber. By Oct. 1916 the British had organized a camel corps and light car patrols, and proceeded to re-occupy the oases. Sidi Ahmed retired to Siwa, where he was attacked and defeated at the beginning of Feb. 1917 by a force of armoured cars from Es Sollum under Brig.-Gen. H. W. Hodgson. This action at Siwa discredited the Senussi and removed the danger to Egypt.

During 1917 and 1918 Turkish and German influence amongst. the Senussites declined and Sidi Ahmed's own position was dis credited. In the summer of 1918 he found it advisable to leave Cyrenaica for Turkey and was succeeded by Sidi Mohammed el Idris, the son of Senussi-el-Mandi. The new Grand Senussi con cluded agreements with Great Britain and Italy, recognizing Italian sovereignty. In 1925 a rectification of frontier was made between Egypt and Italy, Jaghbub being transferred to the Italian sphere.