reprinted from STUDIES ON OTTOMAN DIPLOMATIC HISTORY edited by Selim DERINGIL and Sinan KUNERALP THE ISIS PRESS ISTANBULIdris BOSTAN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE AND THE CONGO : THE CRISIS OF 1893-95 In the last quarter of the 19th century the European powers focused their attention on the least explored continent — Africa. Exploratory expeditions on the part of England, France, Germany, and Italy were aimed at carving out additional territories for these powers, In this period, equatorial Africa became a particularly attractive bone of contention. Special efforts were also made to discover the sources of the Nile and Congo rivers. The Congo Basin was to become the subject of the 1884-85 Berlin Africa Conference, called together by Prince Bismarck to work out an equitable means of ‘sharing the spoils’. As a power with African interests the Ottoman Empire was represented at this conference, and took part in the deliberations which ended up deciding that all powers would have free access to the Congo and Niger rivers, and free trade would not be hindered along these waterways.! But the conference did not serve as a final agreement, and the powers continued to divide the continent through bilateral treaties, and particularly intense competition developed between Britain, Belgium and France.2 iw The Belgian attempt at the occupation of Equatoria Exploratory expeditions were usually the harbingers of definite occupation and colonisation by the metropolitan power. The activities of Belgium in the ‘Congo Free State, her interest in the territories north of Lake Albert and in the southern Sudan tended to worry other powers with interests in the area, who tried to contain the Belgian initiative. Particularly the exploratory missions supported I The text of the Berlin Treaty on Africa is to be found in Prench and Turkish at the Bosbakanisk Argivi (BA) Yildaz Esas Evraks (YER) Kusun 25, Evrak 52/5, Zarf 52, Kanton 73, The text in Turkish only is in, BA/ Name-i Hamayun, Nr. 14, p. 113-125. 2for a historical résumé of the panitioning of Africa by the European states, sce: B. A. Boateng, A Political Geography of Africa, Cambridge 1980, pp. 54-79, The istue of the of Africa was also taken in hand by the second secretary of the Ontoman High sion in Egypt, Mehmed Muhsin Bey, [He argued that the Europeans were devising fictitious maps showing purely arbitrary borders, and that one should be wary about using them. See : Mehmed Muhsin, Afrika Delili, (Cairo 1312), pp. 31-32.104 IDRIS BOSTAN by King Leopold II in the Congo Basin, soon began to yield results. A Belgian expeditionary force was attempting to reach the Upper Nile valley and unite this territory with the Congo Free State. Thus the crisis of 1894 was born. An editorial in the Correspondance Politique published in Vienna and dated 27 August 1893, questioned whether Belgium had any rights in Equatoria since the region had been previously occupied by the Khedivate. The story in the paper, emanating from sources in Alexandria, stated that the khedive of Egypt had rightful claims on the area based on his having established control through the expeditions of Emin Pasa, an official in Egyptian service. The paper further stated in no uncertain terms that Equatoria had been a province of Egypt, (Hatt-: Istiva Eyaleti) which had been administered by Egyptian officials in the name of the Ottoman sultan. The representative of the Ottoman state at the Berlin Conference, Said Pasa, had stated at the sitting of 31 January 1885, that the Ottoman state had well established and time-honoured rights in the area. Thus, the publication concluded, Belgium had no right whatsoever to annex these lands to the Congo Free State, which had been proclaimed neutral by international agreement. The article ended by stating that the Khedivate could not remain indifferent to such a transgression, and that this would re-activate the Egyptian Question.> The Egyptian province of Equatoria had been established between 1870 and 1876 by Samuel Baker Pasa and Gordon Pasa, both then in Egyptian service, The completion of Egyptian administration and the establishment of the province as part of Egyptian Sudan (Sudan-: Misri), had been achieved ‘during the governorship of Emin Pasa (1878-1884). Although the actual ‘administration’ of the Egyptian officials in Equatoria did not extend very far beyond fortified outposts such as Lado and Gondokoro, and the total number of troops Gordon and Emin had at their disposal was no more than 1500, it was internationally acknowledged that this territory was the hinterland of Egypt.4 The news of the annexation of Equatoria into the Congo Free State aroused great consternation in Istanbul. When the Correspondance Politique article reached the Porte, Grand Vezir Cevad Pasa demanded immediate SBA/ Milmtaze-i Mustr. S/A, 135, enclosure 8, 40n Gordon's activities in the Sudan and his struggle against the Mehdists see: A. B. Theobald The Mahdiyya, A History of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan 1881-1899, (London 19$1) ‘pp. 67-139; P. M: Holt The Mahdist State in the Sudan 1881-1898 (Oxford 1958) pp. 79-97. For detailed information on the constitution of the province of Equatoria by Emin Pasa see: Tan R. Smith The Emin Pasa Relief Expedition 1886-1890, (Oxford 1972). For the history of the province of Eauatoria throuch local sources. cee: Sevki el-Cemal. Tarihu Sudanu Vadi'n-