190 



CONGO FREE STATE. 



Lieut. Dhannis, numbered 450 soldiers of the 

 Congo State, and was joined by 7,000 native aux- 

 iliaries. The Arab rebels occupied the country 

 from the fortified post at Basoko, at the junction 

 of the Congo and the Aruwimi, southward to the 

 fort at Lusambo, on the upper Sankuru, and Al- 

 bertville, on Lake Tanganyika. The aged Tippoo 

 Tib, who had retired, leaving his son Sefu bin 

 Mohammed in his place as vali at Stanley Falls, 

 wrote to assure the Government of his loyalty ; 

 and Sefu and Rashid, Tippoo Tib's nephew and 

 deputy, who commanded at Kassongo, his chief 

 place in the Manyema district, for some time 

 after the massacre of the Hodister expedition by 

 the Arab chief of Nyangwe, Muini Moharra, con- 

 tinued to act in harmony with the State author- 

 ities, and when Lieut. Dhannis prepared to move 

 upon the enemy he expected that their forces 

 would co-operate with him. Instead of that, they 

 were drawn into the rebellion, and the Free State 

 found itself at war with the united Arab power 

 in Central Africa. The Belgian officers at Kas- 

 songo Lippens and De Bruyn were murdered. 

 Arab forces attacked Albertville, Basoko, and 

 Lusambo, and were repelled at each point. Sefu, 

 in his camp at Stanley Falls, had expressed hor- 

 ror at the acts of Muini Moharra, whom he prom- 

 ised to bring speedily to terms, saying that he 

 would join Dhannis in Lusambo with a large 

 force. On his march through the rebellious dis- 

 tricts on the Lomaini he was joined by the other 

 Arab chiefs, and advanced against Lusambo, sup- 

 ported by Moharra with a large army. Dhannis, 

 however, learned in time his treacherous purpose, 

 and obtained in haste the aid of Gongo Lutete, a 

 powerful negro chief on the upper Lomami, and 

 of the latter's principal vassal, Lupungu. The 

 Arabs blocked the entrance to the Lomami at its 

 junction with the Congo, and threatened to in- 

 vade the possessions of Gongo Lutete, destroy 

 the fortified camp at Lusambo, and advance upon 

 Lulualberg and the commercial stations on the 

 Kassai. The Arab army numbered about 10,000 

 rifles a far greater force than Dhannis could 

 muster but the Belgian officer relied on his 

 trained soldiers and his Krupp gun, and was not 

 afraid to go out to meet the invaders. He at- 

 tacked Sefu's army, forming the advance guard, 

 near Gino Muisso, on Nov. 22, 1892. The battle 

 lasted several hours and was fiercely fought. 

 The Arabs were routed before Moharra and the 

 main body came up, and these were involved in 

 the disorderly retreat across the Lomami. The 

 Arabs lost 1,100 men and left 603 rifles in the 

 hands of the Belgians. After this victory the 

 negroes, who before had feared to take up arms 

 against their cruel oppressors, flocked to the ban- 

 ner of the Free State. More than 20,000 joined 

 Dhannis, ready to carry the war into Manyema. 

 Dhannis and his negro allies marched as rapidly 

 as the conditions of transport and subsistence 

 would permit upon the Arab strongholds of Kas- 

 songo and Nyangwe, thoroughly occupying the 

 country as they advanced, first between the San- 

 kuru and the Lomami, and then between the 

 Lomami and the Lualaba. On Jan. 9 Lieut. 

 Dhannis attacked the main body of the Arabs in 

 an intrenched position at Goia Kapaka, and by 

 shelling their camp brought on a general engage- 

 ment and won another complete victory. Muini 

 Moharra was killed and Sefu put to flight. He 



made another stand at Angoi, between the Lo- 

 mami and the Li.alaba, and after a third defeat 

 retired toward Nyangwe, which was strongly 

 fortified on the river bank to prevent a passage. 

 The strong positions on the left bank were also 

 occupied by the Arabs, and fortified for the pur- 

 pose of defending the approaches to the river. 

 They made several attacks on the camp of the 

 Congo troops, and one day attacked in force, and 

 were badly beaten and driven across the Lualaba. 

 Lieut. Dhannis then encamped before Nyangwe, 

 Jan. 29, and besieged it for several weeks. After 

 several bombardments, he crossed, on March 4, in 

 canoes that the natives had brought up, and 

 after a brisk fight, which lasted several hours, the 

 Arabs fled in the direction of Kassongo, and the 

 Belgians took possession of the city. A part of 

 the Arab forces had retired northward with Sefu, 

 and when the Congo troops entered Kassongo 

 they found it deserted. A junction was made 

 with Capt. Jacques, lest the remnant of Moharra's 

 army thr.t passed eastward, joining Rumaliza, 

 might attempt to storm his fortifications at Al- 

 bertville. 



In the north, Lieut. Chaltin, commandant at 

 Basoko, who had been operating with success 

 against slave-raiders on the Aruwimi with the 

 aid of the Mabenja negroes before the friendly 

 Arabs revolted on the Congo, co-operated with 

 Commandant Tobbak, of Stanley Falls, as soon 

 as Rashid's people, who remained quiet till long 

 after Sefu took the field with Moharra, took up 

 arms against the Free State. They occupied in 

 force the strong Arab fortress of Issanghi, at 

 the mouth of the Lomami, and threatened Ba- 

 soko, hoping to block the water communications 

 and prevent the sending of assistance to the 

 forces that were opposed to Moharra and Sefu. 

 From this post they were dislodged by Chaltin, 

 who converted it into a station of the Free State. 

 He set out in the beginning of May, 1893, from 

 Bena Kemba, on the Lomami, for the purpose 

 of capturing the great Arab town of Riba Riba, 

 on the Lualaba, north of Nyangwe. The Arabs 

 met him at a river 14 miles from the place, and 

 attempted to contest the passage. He was un- 

 able to procure boats, but finally dislodged the 

 Arabs with his artillery, and constructed a 

 raft, on which he crossed. After several days 

 of fighting the expedition entered Riba Riba, 

 which the enemy had left in ruins, abandoning 

 it at the approach of the conquerors, after taking 

 all that was valuable that could be carried, setting 

 fire to the houses and destroying all the planta- 

 tions, but leaving in their hasty retreat a quan- 

 tity of arms and powder. Lieut. Chaltin sus- 

 pected that the defeated Arabs would attack 

 Stanley Falls, which had not previously been 

 threatened, for Rashid continued to protest his 

 loyalty and submission to the Congo State, and 

 represented that the war in the south was due 

 to the lamentable blunder of the whites in 

 espousing the cause of Gongo Lutete, whose 

 country Sefu had invaded in order to punish 

 him as a false vassal, who had stolen merchan- 

 dise that was confided to his care and rebelled 

 against his chief. Chaltin's apprehensions were 

 well founded. He arrived at .Stanley Falls on 

 May 15, while Commandant Tobbak was engaged 

 in a battle against overwhelming odds, and put 

 the assailants to flight, killing 200, and captur- 



