When the Mamluk emirs, who had secured a negotiation with Ismail Pasha's predecessor Keki Abdi Pasha as to their power and holdings in Egypt, found that he had been replaced by Ismail Pasha, they refused to honor the deal.[5] Abdi Pasha, angry over his dismissal and this turn of events, sent agents to Istanbul, the capital, to persuade the sultan to reappoint him as governor.[6] This was successful, and within a month, on 3 January 1789, news arrived that Abdi Pasha had been reappointed the governor of Egypt and Ismail Pasha had been dismissed.[6]