TROUBLE AT ZANZIBAR.

Clutha Leader, Volume XXIII, Issue 1148, 4 September 1896, Page 3

TROUBLE AT ZANZIBAR.

The death is announced of the Sultan of Zanzibar. It . is believed that ho was poisoned. i It is reported that Khaled, with 1200 armed men as supporters, seized the palace in Zanzibar on the death of the Sultan and proclaimed himself successor. Abdul Khaled controls 25,000 troops and the palace guns were trained on the harbour. H M. vessels Thrush, Sparrow, and Philomel were moored opposite, and on the arrival of the St George, the flagship, 250 seamen were landed and Rear-admiral H. Ranson, of the latter vessell, sent an ultimatum on "Wednef* day that unless Khaled completely submitted by 9 o'clock that the palace would be bombarded. The British residents in Zanzibar have been ordered on board the vessels. Khaled had the body buried within a couple of hours of death, and he told ! Mr Basil S. Gave, British Consul, that J he preferred to die before he would quit the palace. Local opinion favours the abolition of the Sultanate and the hoistings of the British flag. Abdul Khaled declining to submit to the British admiral, the fleet opened fire on tbe palace. The bombardment continued for upwards of an hour. Khaled's party armed a cargo steamer and fired on the British men-of-war, but was speedily sunk. The palace and old custom houses I are a heap of blazing ruins, and the British are trying to extinguish the flames. Khaled, with his chief adherent, took refuge in the German Consolute. The sailors are engaged in capturing the rebels. Firing is proceeding in the outskirts of the town, where Captain Raikes and 400 of the Zanzibar army remained loyal. The marines captured the palace. Abdul Khaled will probably be desported to India. Mr Cave, the British Consul, has proclaimed Hamud, an elderly cousin of the late monarch, Sultan of Zauzibar. Only one sailor was. wounded. The rebels fought pluckiiy and lost heavily. Khaled bolted early in the engagement. Hamud, the new Sultan, expresses friendship to the British and declares the static quo unaltered.