THE FALSE PROPHET IN THE SOUDAN.

Kumara Times, Issue 1987, 11 January 1883, Page 2

THE FALSE PROPHET IN THE SOUDAN.

♦ Professor Schweinfurth communicated to the Times correspondent at Cairo on October 20th the following news from the Soudan:—Last June 6000 Egyptian soldiers, without provisions and tired, were surrounded by the followers of the Mahdi, or False Prophet, and massacred. The news of September 15th is as follows :—Abd-el-Kader is in despair at not receiving reinforcements. He asks for Remingtons and ammunition. Khartoum is fortified, but the soldiers demoralised by repeated defeats. The population is seceetly adhering to the Mahdi. 8000 soldiers are believed to have perished in the combats of September 15th. El Obeid, capital of Kordofan, has been forty days besieged. Its capture is expected, and an attack on Khartoum will follow. Communication with Dufar has ceased. The Shutaurige tribe alone remains faithful, Berber and. Dongola are tranquil, but uncertain. Dr Schweinfurth’s informants may possibly have somewhat exaggerated the facts, but the Professor is much impressed with the gravity of the situation, which, he declares, dwarfs into insignificance Arabi’s miserable little revolt. The general belief through Islam is that the new prophet will be revealed on ths Ist of Mobarram, or 12th of November next. If these tribes carry Khartoum, they may, in Dr. Schweinfurth’s opinion, raise the entire upper country. As there seems some anxiety to understand the nationality of (he parties, it may be as well to explain that this movement is directed against the Egyptians, and that the troops defeated and massacred are Arabi’s Egyptian soldiers of the Sondan, who, in consequence of the recent movements of Arabi, have been left without sufficient reinforcement. One of the first acts of the military revolt, now called national patriotism, was the refusal of the Egyptian regiments to go to the Sondan.