Thoughts on this lot from ebay

[Flavio]

Originally Posted by ariel

I always knew them as Mambele from the Azande tribe. In the most recent version of "Three feathers" Sudanese dervishes emerged from under the sand and attacked the Brits with these swords. I thought that was just Hollywood confusion. Any evidence that West or Central African Moslems participated in the Mahdi rebellion?

Hello Ariel. The azande swords are a little different and more rare: the point is wider and are less curved than the one on the ebay, that, to tell you the truth, i have watched wrong because this one isn't a Bandia-Benge as i have written, but a mongelima kondo (TRIBAL ARTS vol I/n1, pag 58). In the film "The Four Feathers", the last one, some dervishes carry in hand some swords that are very similar to those of the Bandia-Benge (mambeli).

picture 1: group of Mongelima kondo
picture 2: group of bandia benge mambeli
picture 3: two azande sword