The British government was calculating the strength of East Africa, and the more they calculated, the more they realized that they had no good strategy against East Africa. Although its size wasn't large, in Africa's context, it was akin to a behemoth.
After all, apart from Cape Town and North Africa, Africa could not find another power that could compete with East Africa's white population. Moreover, East Africa was composed of Germans, albeit not purely, but its cultural allegiance naturally leaned towards Germany.
What did this mean for Britain? A single Germany was already enough to give Britain a headache. If you add in Austria-Hungary, the influence of the German people was enough to change the entire world. If East Africa further became a resource supply base for these two industrial powerhouses, then Britain's position as an overlord would be greatly threatened.
