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CONFIDENTIAL
THE ANGLO-EGYPTIAN CONDOMINIUM OVER THE SUDAN
1.
The condominium was established as an act of British policy by the Anglo-Egyptian Convention of 19 January 1899. The term "condominium" was however not used in the Convention, nor was there any reference to "sovereignty" in the Convention. A text of the Convention is annexed to this note.
Historical background
2.
Although Britain at that time did not formally claim the rights of a sovereign or protecting power, Egypt was in fact under British control, having been occupied by British forces in 1882. (In November 1914 the British Government declared Egypt a Protectorate.)
3.
The administrative arrangements for the Sudan laid down in the Convention of 1899 were devised by Britain as a means of asserting British control in order to prevent a repetition of the Mahdist rebellion which the British saw as having resulted from oppressive Egyptian rule, under arrangements which stopped short of straightforward colonisation since this would have evoked protests from France and other powers.
The system established by the Convention
4.
Even under the formal arrangements laid down in the 1899 Convention, Egypt's authority in the Sudan was much less than that of Britain. British and Egyptian flags were to be "used together". Supreme civil and military powers including legisla- tive authority were vested in the Governor-General, who was to be appointed by the Khedive of Egypt on the recommendation of the British Government and could only be removed by the Khedive's decree with the British Government's consent. In practice he was invariably a British official. Also according to the Convention, the Governor-General exercised legislative powers by issuing proclamations which were to be notified to the British Agent and Consul-General in Cairo and to the Egyptian Prime Minister. In practice he acted under the direction of the Foreign Office in London, through the British Agent in Cairo without being subject to Egyptian control in political matters. The Regulations for the Financial Administration of the Sudan, appended to the Convention, stipulated that the Sudan's annual budget had to be approved by the Egyptian Cabinet.
5.
Senior administrative personnel, in the provincial as well as the central Sudanese Government, were invariably British, while Egyptians (and later Sudanese) were employed in lower ranking posts.
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CONFIDENTIAL
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