SUPPORT FOR TITO

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 69, Issue 268, 25 August 1949, Page 5

SUPPORT FOR TITO

YUGOSLAV AIR FORCE Plot to Carve U|3 Albania Denied (N.Z.P.A. Copyright) (Rec. 10.35 a.m.) BELGRADE, Aug. 24. Assurances of support were received by Marshal Tilo to-day from the Yugoslav Air Force and from members of the Corps of National Defence of Yugoslavia, which trains crack military units. A letter to Tito from the Air Force said: “Conscious of the situation we are in, airmen of the Yugoslav Air Force are prepared to defend their Socialist homeland against anyone—no matter from which side attack comes.”

Yugoslavia to-niglit officially denied any part in the purported plot to carve up neighbouring Albania under an agreement by which it would acquire part of the territory, with the balance going to Greece, says the Associated Press.

In a statement issued through the' Ministry of Information, Tito’s Government said it wanted no part of Albania's territory. The statement was issued in response to a Note of protest delivered by Albania to the Yugoslav Embassy in Tirana complaining about “supposed provocations” by Yugoslav border patrols on Albania’s northern boundary.”

The Yugoslav statement denied these charges about frontier violations, and said that border incidents had been the result of Albania’s attempt to stir up trouble at the direction of the Russian-dominated Cominform. Tito’s offer to negotiate “all disputed questions” between Yugoslavia and Russia has put the responsibility of easing tension in the Balkans squarely to the Soviet Union, says the Associated Press correspondent. Observers in Belgrade, however, feel that there is little likelihood that Russia will accept the offer of an across-the-table settlement of the dispute. The bitterness of the' feud has apparently gone too far. The question remains of how far Russia is willing to go to bring Tito into line. There is no solid evidence here of differences going beyond the present stage. A Berlin message says that the police to-day arrested Karl Heinz Scholz (42), founder of the “Free Communist Party,” on charges of holding unauthorised political meetings in the French sector of Berlin. The French official spokesman said action was takeh on the personal order of the French commandant in Berlin. Scholz held a meeting of 50 former Communists in a French sector restaurant on Sunday to form a party, and sent a message to Tito pledging support to the Yugoslav fight against the Soviet Union.