West of Lake Rudolf, the 25th East African Brigade (Brig. W. Owen) marched on Namaraputh with the objective of taking the town of Kalam ("Map 1: Point 4"). Opposition from Merille tribesman in the area was so fierce, that the Brigade was compelled to cease its advance and to go over to the defensive. Any advance west of the lake would first require wide area operations to subdue these irregular forces. By the time Moyale fell, allied forces had captured Mogadishu to the east and this success encouraged General Wavell to advise Cunningham that the South African division should be readied to deploy to Egypt at short notice. Cunningham thus replaced 2nd and 5th Brigades with the 21st East African Brigade and withdrew them back into Kenya.