provided with rifles (mostly obsolete, except for 400 rifles of newer make), plus a great number of auxiliaries equipped with spears or bows. He kept garrisons at Baggara and Karnak Logone. In 1899, Rabih received in Dekoa the French explorer Ferdinand de Béhagle. The discussions between them degenerated, and Béhagle was arrested. On July 17, Lieutenant Bretonnet, who had been sent by France against Rabih, was killed with most of his men at the battle of Togbao, at the edge of the Chari River, in present-day Sarh. Rabih gained three cannons from this victory (which the French recaptured at Kousséri) and ordered his son Fadlallah, whom he had left in Dikoa, to hang Béhagle. In response, a French Army column, proceeding from Gabon and led by Émile Gentil, supported by the steamboat Leon Blot, confronted Rabih at Kouno at the end of the year. Even if the French were repulsed with losses, this did not prevent them from continuing and taking Kousséri. Here, they combined with the Lamy column, which had arrived from Algeria, and the Joalland-Meynier column, which had marched from Niger. Lamy assumed command of the combined forces. The final showdown between Rabih and the French took place on April 22, 1900. The French forces consisted of 700 men, plus the 600 riflemen and 200 cavalry provided by the allied Baguirmi people. Leaving Kousséri in three columns, the French attacked Rabih's camp. Although the commander Lamy was killed in the ensuing battle, Rabih's forces were overwhelmed and, while fleeing across the Chari River, Rabih was killed. With Rabih's defeat, his empire rapidly disintegrated. A year later his son Fadlallah was defeated and killed. All Rabih's territories fell into French hands, except for Borno which went to Britain. References This article draws heavily on the Rabah article in the French-language Wikipedia. Gaston Dujarric, La vie du sultan Rabah, Paris, 1902 Von Oppenheim, Rabeh und das Tsadseegebiet, Berlin, 1902 A. Babikir, L'Empire du Rabih, Paris, 1954 Encyclopædia Britannica, "Rabih az-Zubayr", (2000) Amegboh, Joseph, and Cécile Clairval, Rabah : Conquérant Des Pays Tchadiens, Grandes Figures Africaines (Paris: Dakar ; Abidjan : [Afrique Biblio Club] ; [Nouvelles Éditions Africaines], 1976). Horowitz, Michael, ‘Ba Karim: An Account of Rabeh’s Wars’, African Historical Studies, 3 (1970), 391–402. Mohammed, Kyari, Borno in the Rabih Years, 1893-1901 : the Rise and Crash of a Predatory State (Maiduguri Nigeria: University of Maiduguri, 2006). Specific External links Sudanese