The Battle of Guté Dili was fought on 14 October 1888 between an alliance of the Shewa

Shewa

Shewa is a historical region of Ethiopia, formerly an autonomous kingdom within the Ethiopian Empire...

n forces of Ras Gobana Dacche and the Oromo

Oromo people

The Oromo are an ethnic group found in Ethiopia, northern Kenya, .and parts of Somalia. With 30 million members, they constitute the single largest ethnic group in Ethiopia and approximately 34.49% of the population according to the 2007 census...

 ruler of Leqa Naqamte, Moroda Bekere, and Mahdist

Mahdi

In Islamic eschatology, the Mahdi is the prophesied redeemer of Islam who will stay on Earth for seven, nine or nineteen years- before the Day of Judgment and, alongside Jesus, will rid the world of wrongdoing, injustice and tyranny.In Shia Islam, the belief in the Mahdi is a "central religious...

 forces under governor Khalil al-Khuzani near Nejo

Nejo

Nejo is a town in western Ethiopia. Located in the Mirab Welega Zone of the Oromia Region, this town has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation of 1821 meters above sea level. It is the administrative center of Nejo woreda...

 in the modern Mirab Welega Zone

Mirab Welega Zone

Mirab Welega is one of the 12 Zones in the Ethiopian Region of Oromia. This zone is named after the former province of Welega, whose western part lay in the area Mirab Misraq now occupies....

 of the Oromia Region

Oromia Region

Oromia is one of the nine ethnic divisions of Ethiopia...

. The Mahdist forces were routed, and only Khalil and Muhammad Hassan of Fadasi, who was leading the Bela Shangul contingent, with a small group of Ansar

Ansar (Sudan)

The Ansar , or followers of the Mahdi, is a Sufi religious movement in the Sudan whose followers are disciples of Muhammad Ahmad , the self-proclaimed Mahdi....

and Berta

Berta people

The Berta or Bertha are an ethnic group living along the border of Sudan and Ethiopia. They speak a Nilo-Saharan language that is not related to those of their Nilo-Saharan neighbors . Their total Ethiopian population is about 183,000 people....

 soldiers, were able to successfully flee the battlefield.

This engagement represents the high water mark of Mahdist activity in what is now southwestern Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

. Despite raids over the next two years, local rulers west of Lega Naqamte, such as 'Abd ar-Rahman Khojali of Qabesh, stopped paying tribute to Omdurman

Omdurman

Omdurman is the second largest city in Sudan and Khartoum State, lying on the western banks of the River Nile, opposite the capital, Khartoum. Omdurman has a population of 2,395,159 and is the national centre of commerce...

 and ignored summons to present themselves to the Mahdist capital. Further, Ras Gobana's master (then) king Menelik II of Shewa was able to continue to extending his influence into the area south of the Abay River, which followed Menelik and Gobena's defeat of the Gojjam

Gojjam

Gojjam was a kingdom in the north-western part of Ethiopia, with its capital city at Debre Marqos. This region is distinctive for lying entirely within the bend of the Abbay River from its outflow from Lake Tana to the Sudan...

e army six years earlier in the Battle of Embabo

Battle of Embabo

The Battle of Embabo was fought 6 June 1882, between the Shewan forces of Negus Menelik II and the Gojjame forces of Negus Tekle Haymanot. The forces fought to gain control over the Oromia Region south of the Gibe River. The Gojjame forces under Tekle Haymanot were defeated...

.