 These events temporarily ended British and Egyptian involvement in Sudan, which passed completely under the control of the Mahdists.Muhammad Ahmad died soon after his victory, on 22 June 1885, and was succeeded by the Khalifa Abdallahi ibn Muhammad, who proved to be an able, albeit ruthless, ruler of the Mahdiyah (the Mahdist state).Between 1886 and 1889 a British expedition to relieve the Egyptian governor of Equatoria made its way through central Africa.