 According to some sources, he did reach Deim Zubeir, but other accounts claim that he did not.A second mission under Xavier-Ernest Donckier de Donceel marched towards Deim Zubeir in April 1894, but retreated from there under pressure from Mahdist forces.A few months later, in August 1894, Belgium's King Leopold II ceded all territorial claims over Bahr El Ghazal to France.