El-Ouatia is a remote location in the desert region south of Tunis and toward Tripoli, known in the account as the place where the Marquis de Morès was killed. Its association with that earlier expedition turns a new military assignment there into a warning about the risks of operating far south without substantial forces.

Setting and Route

On a map in Jérôme Leclerc’s office, the route from Tunis runs south past Sousse, Sfax, and Gabès toward Tripoli. Leclerc estimates the journey at about 800 kilometres; beyond the named places, the map shows no roads or settlements. The blankness of the map underscores the practical difficulty of reaching El-Ouatia, as well as the danger Picquart is ordered to investigate: reports of hostile Bedouin cavalry massing near Tripoli.

The Morès Expedition

The location’s significance is established by the fate of the Marquis de Morès. On 8 June of the previous year, he travelled by camel with six Tuareg whom he regarded as the nucleus of a private army. Bedouin fighters appeared around him, and his escort turned against him. The rest of the expedition remained at a distance, and Morès was killed. His money was stolen and his body was mistreated. The account names El-Ouatia as the place where he died.

Military Significance

The Second Department had asked whether the British secret service organized Morès’s murder; Picquart was able to report that it had not. He instead draws a military lesson from the episode: venturing so far south with less than a full infantry brigade, cavalry, and artillery would be suicidal. When Picquart is later ordered by the Ministry of War to proceed immediately to El-Ouatia and assess the reports near Tripoli, the site’s history makes the danger concrete. Leclerc recognizes the same connection and reminds the authorities that Morès was ambushed there barely a year earlier.