Besides acting as an administrator and explorer, Gordon had to act as a diplomat, dealing carefully with Muteesa I, the "Kabaka" (king) of the Buganda who ruled most of what is today southern Uganda, a man who did not welcome the Egyptian expansion into the Great Lakes region. Gordon's attempts to establish an Egyptian garrison in the Buganda had been stymied by the cunning Muteesa, who forced the Egyptians to build their fort at his capital of Lubaga, making the 140 or so Egyptian soldiers his virtual hostages. Gordon chose not to meet Muteesa himself, instead sending his chief medical officer, a German convert to Islam, Dr. Emin Pasha, to negotiate a treaty wherein in exchange for allowing the Egyptians to leave the Buganda, the independence of the kingdom was recognised.