# Lieutenant-Colonel Klobb killed at Dankori (c. 14 July 1899)

URL: https://allhistories.com/niger/timeline/1899-lieutenant-colonel-klobb-killed-at-dankori
Location: Dankori, Maradi Region, Niger
Themes: main-event

Lieutenant-Colonel Arnaud Klobb, sent by Paris to take command, caught up with the mission near Dankori in mid-July 1899. Voulet ordered his men to fire on Klobb's column, and Klobb was killed. The exact date is inferred, near 14 July. Klobb is reported to have refused to shoot at the mission's men and went forward to talk, and was cut down in the volley that followed. Klobb had been ordered to arrest or replace Voulet after reports of atrocities. His death turned Voulet's insubordination into open mutiny against France. Two days later, Voulet's own troops, unwilling to fight other French, rose against the captains. Chanoine was killed on 16 July and Voulet shot the next morning. The incident was kept secret at first by the surviving officers, but the story emerged and caused a scandal when it reached France in the summer of 1899. No single named ruler is documented for the lands of present-day Niger at this date. The period is represented in the rulers file by the placeholder entry 'Sahelian sultanates and states: Agadez, Songhai, Hausa states, Damagaram, Sokoto Caliphate', so the event belongs to the history of local communities and states (see the sultans-and-chiefs file for the named sultans, kings and chiefs of Agadez, Damagaram, Gobir, Dosso and neighbours) rather than a documented single head of state. Locally, Ali dan Yakubu (Sarkin Gobir, after 1808); Dan Kasawa (Sarkin Katsina Maradi, early 19th century) held authority in the region concerned. The killing exposed the mission to public scandal and brought about its collapse. The shooting shifted the narrative from colonial excess to treason, which forced the French government to react and publicly confront the mission's crimes. It also hardened the French government's resolve to prosecute the affair.

## Why it matters
The shooting turned a brutal expedition into open mutiny against France.

Ruler at the Time: [Sahelian sultanates and states: Agadez, Songhai, Hausa states, Damagaram, Sokoto Caliphate](https://allhistories.com/niger/rulers/sahelian-sultanates-and-states-agadez-songhai-hausa-states-damagaram-sokoto-caliphate)

## Sources
- [Voulet–Chanoine Mission](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voulet%E2%80%93Chanoine_Mission)
- [Paul Voulet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Voulet)
- [History of Niger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Niger)