Rejaf, also Rajāf or Rageef, is a community in
Central Equatoria
Central Equatoria is a state in South Sudan. With an area of , it is the smallest of the original South Sudanese states. Its previous name was Bahr al-Jabal (also Bahr-el-Jebel), named after a tributary of the White Nile that flows through the s ...
in
South Sudan, on the west bank of the
White Nile
The White Nile ( ar, النيل الأبيض ') is a river in Africa, one of the two main tributaries of the Nile, the other being the Blue Nile. The name comes from the clay sediment carried in the water that changes the water to a pale color. ...
.
The
Lado Enclave was an
exclave
An enclave is a territory (or a small territory apart of a larger one) that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state or entity. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is sometimes used improperly to deno ...
of the
Congo Free State
''(Work and Progress)
, national_anthem = Vers l'avenir
, capital = Vivi Boma
, currency = Congo Free State franc
, religion = Catholicism (''de facto'')
, leader1 = Leopo ...
that existed from 1894 until 1910, leased by the British to King
Leopold II of Belgium for the period of his lifetime. Rejaf was the terminus for boats on the Nile and the seat of the Commander, the only European colonial official within the enclave.
In the fierce
Battle of Rejaf on 17 February 1897, Belgian commandant
Louis-Napoléon Chaltin led a column of eight-hundred men against over two thousand
Mahdists
The Mahdist War ( ar, الثورة المهدية, ath-Thawra al-Mahdiyya; 1881–1899) was a war between the Mahdist Sudanese of the religious leader Muhammad Ahmad bin Abd Allah, who had proclaimed himself the "Mahdi" of Islam (the "Guided On ...
. Chaltin was victorious and the battle secured Rejaf as a Belgian post along the Nile.
References
Populated places in Jubek State
{{SouthSudan-geo-stub