On 3 March it was taken by the combined forces of two French expeditions, one under Major Lamy from Algeria and the other under Lt. Paul Joalland from Senegal and local forces opposed to Rabih. Rabih was not in Kousseri at the time but established himself in a fort on the right bank of the Chari. Lamy did not think he had sufficient forces to attack Rabih immediately, but waited until the beginning of April when he was joined by a third expedition that was coming up the Chari under Émile Gentil.