Egyptian newspapers framed defeat of Mahdists as heroism, highlighting Egyptian officer dignity

Evidence

In September of 1898, the details of the battle of Omdurman splashed across Misbah al-sharq’s front pages. These details grew more dramatic with the news that the commander (sirdär) of the Egyptian Army, General Herbert Kitchener, ignored the pillage of the city by former slaves of the Mahdïya. An eyewitness to the destruction, quoted at length, recounted how these slaves went after Ibrahïm Fawzï, who had just returned to his Omdurman hut after being released from the prison of the khalifa (the successor to the Mahdï), when he intervened in their attempts to steal a donkey. The pasha “scolded them personally, but they did not listen. They threatened to kill him, so the Pasha himself paid [the rightful owner] for the donkey, even giving them his saddle.” Only after the general heard of this insult to Fawzï Pasha did he regulate the behavior of the slaves and soldiers. — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 546

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s stated interest in how Egyptian versus Sudanese colonial experience differed — Kitchener ignoring pillaging former slaves hints at Britain’s ambiguous abolitionist/colonial posture in Sudan.