page_title: Rabih az-Zubayr
section_title: Direct conflict with the French (1899–1900)
hierarchical_section_title: Rabih az-Zubayr / Direct conflict with the French (1899–1900)
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Canon de bronze pris à Rabah lors de la Bataille de Kousséri (1900). Musée National de Ndjaména (Tchad).
context_page_description: Rabih az-Zubayr ibn Fadl Allah or Rabih Fadlallah, usually known as Rabah in French, was a Sudanese warlord and slave trader who established a powerful empire east of Lake Chad, in today's Chad.
  Born around 1842 to an arabized Nubian family in Halfaya Al-Muluk, a suburb of Khartoum, he first served with the irregular Egyptian cavalry in the Ethiopian campaign, during which he was wounded. When Rabih left the army in 1860s, he became the principal lieutenant of the Sudanese slaveholder Sebehr Rahma.
context_section_description: In 1899 Rabah had at his disposal 10,000 men among infantry and cavalry, all 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 talks 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 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, who he had left in Dikoa, to hang Béhagle.
  In response, a French 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 disposed of 700 men, plus the 600 riflemen and 200 cavalry provided by the allied Baguirmians. 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.
caption: One of Rabih's cannons captured by the French
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