million franks, guaranteed by a portion of customs revenue. The Moroccan historian Abdallah Laroui noted: "The more those at the top borrowed, the more those at the bottom were impoverished." Morocco experienced a famine from 1903 to 1907, as well as insurrections led by El-Rogui (Bou Hmara) and Mulai Ahmed er Raisuni. Abd al-Hafid wrested the throne from his brother Abd al-Aziz in the Hafidiya (1907-1908) coup d'état. French concessions to competing powers Private agreements among the United Kingdom, Italy and France in 1904, collectively known as the Entente Cordiale, made without consulting the sultan, had divided the Maghreb into spheres of influence, with France given Morocco. The 1906 Treaty of Algeciras formalized the French pre-eminence over other European great powers in Morocco, and affirmed its right to collect customs revenue from Moroccan ports. In the aftermath of the Agadir Crisis of 1911, Germany recognised the French position in Morocco and received in return territories in the French Equatorial Africa the colony of Middle Congo (now the Republic of the Congo). The land, known as Neukamerun, became part of the German colony of Kamerun, part of German West Africa, although it lasted only briefly because it was captured by the Allies during World War I. As part of the treaty, Germany ceded France a small area of territory to the south-east of Fort Lamy, now part of Chad. Makhzen view In Morocco, the young Sultan Abdelaziz acceded in 1894 at the age of 16, and Europeans became the main advisers at the court, and local rulers became more and more independent from the sultan. Sultan Abdelaziz was deposed in 1908. Moroccan law and order continued to deteriorate under his successor, Abdelhafid, who abdicated in favor of his brother Yusef after signing the Treaty of Fez. Makhzen officials believed the protectorate system in Morocco would resemble British Egypt, with substantial autonomy in domains such as internal administration and justice. However, the Treaty of Fes was modelled after the Treaty of Bardo of 12 May 1881, which made Tunisia a French protectorate and severely limited the Bey's authority. An interim government, led by Abdelhafid's brother, , who was promoted sultan in Meknes on 17 April 1911, also put pressure on Abdelhafid.Eugène Regnault, ministre plénipotentiaire of France in Tangier, arrived in Fes on 24 March after long meetings in Paris with the Treaty of Fes in his possession. In March 1912, negotiations at