British officials blamed Egyptian influence for Sudanese nationalism

Evidence

It is important to remember that there were still thousands of Egyptians working in the Sudan at the time, as soldiers and as bureaucrats, whose purported influence on their Sudanese colleagues also complicated the clarity of Sudanese articulations of nationalism. … But the influence of Egyptians seems to have been both exaggerated and obfuscating. As mentioned earlier, the White Flag League was most eager to promote the unity of the Nile Valley but was inflexible on the rule that Egyptians could not be members of the league. Many Sudanese in the League of Sudanese Union, before it fell apart in 1924, also voiced their concerns about the Egyptians speaking for the Sudanese. But most British officials in the Sudan expressed strong suspicions about the Egyptian presence there and often identified any sign of Sudanese rebellion against their government as yet another example of Egyptians intruding into Sudanese politics. — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 1032

Al-Afghänï thus bestows on Muhammad Ahmad the flexibility of conforming to the precepts of Islam as they merge with al-Afghänï’s ideas of Islamic nationalism. Later in the same article, he addresses his Egyptian readers, reminding them that “your territory, your money, and your efforts and the creed of your religion and your morals and your shari`a have all been seized by the enemy to spend.” Al-Afghänï admonishes Egyptians for having allowed the British to take over and infiltrate the Sudan and thus surround Egyptian territory. “Why,” he asks, “do you act as if you aren’t equal [tu´adduna anfusakum] to the level of those who truly are your equals. Do you not resemble your enemy? Are you not more distinguished in your faith than they are?” — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 459

Categorization

• XREF: Fits broader literature on how colonizers misattribute autonomous native resistance to external agitators.
• ADDENDUM: Relevant to the broader pattern where imperial or semi-colonial powers justify claims over a subordinate territory as self-defense.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 1032; Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 459