| has gloss | eng: The Voulet–Chanoine Mission or Central African Mission was a French military expedition sent out from Senegal in 1898 to conquer the Chad Basin and unify all French territories in West Africa. This expedition operated jointly with two other expeditions, the Foureau-Lamy and Gentil missions, which advanced from Algeria and Middle Congo respectively. With the death of the Muslim warlord Rabih az-Zubayr, the greatest ruler in the region, and the creation of the Military Territory of Chad in 1900, the Voulet–Chanoine Mission had accomplished all its goals. However, this success followed numerous misadventures, including the refusal of the expedition commander and his second-in-command to follow orders from France, and their subsequent murder at the hands of their soldiers. In the end, only one of the nine Europeans leading the mission, Paul Joalland, was to reach Chad. |
