Egypt’s imperial weakness in Sudan undercut its own claim to authority.

Evidence

Officially, this hollowness of authority made Egypt’s presence in the Sudan futile. If servants of empire were unable to rely on the long, protective arm of the motherland while they were in overseas territories, the motherland itself lost meaning and cohesion. … He asked Fawzï to escape with the remaining foreign consuls to Metemmeh. Gordon authorized Fawzï to save himself from the disaster about to fall on the city because, according to Gordon, “If I become a prisoner in the hands of those scoundrels, the government of the Queen will not abandon me, and will send tremendous amounts of gold for my ransom, and I wish, from the bottom of my heart, my dear Fawzï, to save you, because if you become a prisoner in their hands, your government will not send even one dirham for your ransom.” Fawzï’s quotation from Gordon infused irony into the writing of his own narrative, since he remembered these words, publicly, after fourteen years of not being ransomed by the Egyptian government. When the long-awaited rescuers finally came, they carried the ambiguous flag of the “Anglo-Egyptian” forces led by General Kitchener (it should also be remembered, however, that political hesitation in London prevented the forces of his majesty’s government from arriving on time to rescue Gordon from the Mahdï’s armies). — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 599