In 1866, the French governor Émile Pinet-Laprade tried to encourage resettlement around Kaolack (a province of the Kingdom of Saloum) and promised to restore order and trade there.
Laprade (and his predecessors Faidherbe and Jauréguibéry) who previously had nothing good to say about the Serers, referring to them "drunkards" and "violent against the Muslims" now needed Maad Kumba Ndoffene Famak's assistance to solve the problem in Kaolack.