to attack Bahariya Oasis were detected by the Senussi garrison, which withdrew to Siwa in early October. The Southern Force attacked the Senussi in the Affairs in the Dakhla Oasis , after which the Senussi retreated to their base at Siwa. In January 1917, a British column including the Light Armoured Car Brigade with Rolls-Royce Armoured Cars and three Light Car Patrols was dispatched to Siwa. On 3 February the armoured cars surprised and engaged the Senussi at Girba, who retreated overnight. Siwa was entered on 4 February without opposition but a British ambush party at the Munassib Pass was foiled, when the escarpment was found to be too steep for the armoured cars. The light cars managed to descend the escarpment and captured a convoy on 4 February. Next day the Senussi from Girba were intercepted but managed to establish a post the cars were unable to reach and then warned the rest of the Senussi. The British force returned to Matruh on 8 February and Sayyid Ahmed withdrew to Jaghbub. Negotiations between Sayed Idris and the Anglo-Italians which had begun in late January were galvanised by news of the Senussi defeat at Siwa. In the accords of Akramah, Idris accepted the British terms on 12 April and those of Italy on 14 April. Volta-Bani War, 1915–1917 The Volta-Bani War was an anti-colonial rebellion that took place in parts of French West Africa (now Burkina Faso and Mali) between 1915 and 1917. It was a war between an indigenous African army, a heterogeneous coalition of peoples against the French Army. At its height in 1916, the indigenous forces mustered from 15,000–20,000 men and fought on several fronts. After about a year and several setbacks, the French army defeated the insurgents and jailed or executed their leaders but resistance continued until 1917. Darfur Expedition, 1916 On 1 March 1916 hostilities began between the Sudanese government and the Sultanate of Darfur. The Anglo-Egyptian Darfur Expedition was conducted to forestall an imagined invasion of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and the Sultanate of Egypt by the Darfurian leader, Sultan Ali Dinar, which was believed to have been synchronised with a Senussi advance into Egypt from the west. The Sirdar (commander) of the Egyptian Army organised a force of men at Rahad, a railhead east of the Darfur frontier. On 16 March, the force crossed the frontier mounted in lorries from a forward base established at