text: French concern about Leopold's aspirations in Africa led to the 1894 Franco-Congolese Treaty, signed on 14 August, in which Leopold was forced to renounce all right to occupy north of the 5° 30" north latitude in exchange for French acceptance of Leopold's ownership of Lado. However, it was not until 1896 that Leopold had the resources to assemble an expedition to the enclave; "an expedition which was without doubt the greatest that nineteenth century Africa had ever seen", under Baron Dhanis.  The official plan was to occupy the enclave, but the ultimate aim was to use Lado as a springboard to capturing Khartoum to the north and control a strip of Africa from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean. Dhanis' expedition mutinied in 1897.
  Later in 1897, troops of the Congo Free State under Louis Napoléon Chaltin attempted to physically take control of the enclave. Chaltin's forces reached the Nile at the town of Bedden in the enclave in February 1897 and defeated the Mahdists in the Battle of Rejaf. This consolidated Léopold's claim to the Upper Nile, but although he had instructed Chaltin to continue on towards Khartoum, Chaltin did not have the forces to do so, and instead chose to heavily fortify Lado (which had ceased to exist under the Mahdists), Rejaf, Kiro, Loka, and Yei, and occupied Dufile.