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104 CHAPTER 2without him filing complaint here with the French Consul? How can one believe thatI sold him here while on the road he was often at least a month behind me? 83In fact, Awad had tried to file a complaint with the French consul in Jeddah,but had failed. According to Suzanne Miers, European consular policies in the1950s towards questions of enslaved Africans was to not interfere when itconcerned slaves belonging to the royal family, and Awad had been sold (ornot) to the Saudi crown prince himself, reducing Awad’s chances on consularhelp to almost zero. 84 On the other hand, it was Abdullah Faysal who soon afterhis instalment as king of Saudi Arabia abolished slavery and prohibited theslave trade, and before his coronation he had been known to oppose slavery andhad manumitted a large number of his own slaves. The French political reportfrom Goundam in 1953 quoted here above on the possibility that Mohamed Alihad sold Awad indicated that Awad had been able to send money back home,which would have meant that his situation in Mecca was not as destitute as hedescribed it himself. The possibility cannot be ruled out entirely that Awad hadeither been manumitted by Faysal, or that he in fact had been employed byFaysal, with a large sum of his salary advanced to Mohamed Ali as repaymentof the travel expenses that Mohamed Ali had advanced for him. Furthermore,the court case of Awad el Djouh resulted in an enquiry being made by theFrench administration among returned pilgrims about the existence of a slavetrade, which was denied by all those questioned, including a number ofprominent local members of both the PSP and the leader of the US-RDA inDiré, a man who had no political reason to protect Mohamed Ali (quite thecontrary). 85 As a last point of unclarity should be mentioned the position ofMohamed Elmehdi, Mohamed Ali’s younger brother who had replaced him inall his official functions. Documents from the colonial archives in Goundamshow that the leading family of the Kel Intessar was deeply divided at the time.Mohamed Elmehdi was in dispute with his brother, who accused him of havingsold all his possessions, distributed his lands and neglected to take care ofMohamed Ali’s children. In his absence Mohamed Elmehdi had become a US-RDA member in the late 1950s, and it seems that by that time he had definitelyturned his back on his older brother, a former PSP stalwart. In an article on theCasablanca conference, the chief editor of the Egyptian newspaper al-Ahram,Mohamed Hasanayn Heikal, mentioned in passing a discussion he had overheardin the corridors:838485Letter from Mohamed Ali ag Attaher Insar to Mohamed Elmehdi ag Attaher Insar,Mecca 10/10/1955. ACG.Miers, S. 2003: 317-332.Cdt. Cercle Goundam à Gov. Soudan Français, Enquête judiciaire sur les faits detraite, 27/11/1955. Confidentiel 109/C. ACG.