Dud Murra of Wadai

Dud Murra
Gaourang II of Bagirmi (left) with Dud Murra (right)
Kolak of Wadai
In office 1901–1909
Preceded by	Ahmad al-Ghazali
Succeeded by	Adam Asil
Personal details
Born	Muhammad Salih bin Yusuf

Muhammad Salih bin Yusuf, known as Dud Murra or Dudmurrah (the lion of Murra), was the last independent ruler, or kolak, of the Wadai Empire. He allied with the Sanusi, powerful traders of the eastern Sahara, and with the Sultan of Darfur to resist French aggression in the eastern Sahel, but was defeated. His sultanate was incorporated in the French military territory of Chad.

Muhammad Salih bin Yusuf, Dud Murra, was the son of Yusuf ibn Muhammad Sharif, who ruled Wadai from his capital of Abéché (Abeshr) from 1874 to 1898. Yusuf's reign was a period of prosperity and stability. In 1898 a force of Anglo-Egyptian troops reconquered the Sudan and defeated the Mahdist forces at Omdurman, near Khartoum. They reestablished the sultanate of Darfur to the east of Wadai under Ali Dinar, a relatively effective ruler. When the Kolak Yusuf of Wadai died in 1898 there was a struggle for the succession in which Dud Murra was the candidate of the Sanusi. However, Ahmad al-Ghazali, sponsored by Ali Dinar, gained the throne.

In November 1901 Dud Murra deposed Ahmed al-Ghazali with the aid of the Sanusi. Muhammad al-Mahdi as-Senussi, the Sanusi leader, died in January 1902, but the Sanusi remained strong in their base of Kufra, midway between Al-Fasher in Darfur and the Mediterranean. Ahmed al-Ghazali was captured in June 1902, blinded and then executed, making Dud Murra the undisputed ruler. Dud Murra rewarded the Sanusiyya by letting them trade freely. It was said of him, "If a merchant is killed the Sultan is sure to revenge him, and should the merchant kill a native the Sultan himself would pay the blood money".

Early in his reign Muhammad Salih Dud Murra had to deal with French aggression from the west. The French had defeated and killed the Sudanese warlord Rabih az-Zubayr, who had taken control of the former Bornu Empire in the west of the Lake Chad region, in the Battle of Kousséri on 22 April 1900. The French were now advancing eastward. Their goal was to defeat the Sanusiya, powerful traders in the eastern Sahara, and to replace local rulers who opposed them with puppets. The French expanded their military camel corps and launched attacks on the Sanusi zawaya posts.