ITALY AND ALBANIA

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XXXXI, Issue XXXXI, 15 June 1920, Page 5

ITALY AND ALBANIA

ALBANIAN PRESIDENT

ASSASSINATED.

-BY CABLS-PBSBB i.BSOCIATION—COPY-BJOEfI . (Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.) ROME, June 14. The fight for Valeria raged furiously "for four hours, beginning at midnight. Fifteen thousand Aiban un insurgents jplaced mines on all the roads, destroyed bridges, and planted captured Italian guns on tEe heights overlooking "the town. These shelled the naval base -during the main attack, Italian war--ships replying. The, defenders' plight was almost lielpless at four, o'clock, owing to a -treacherous Mussulman attack in their "rear, but the Alpini made a desperate -charge, slaying two hundred and cap"turing several thousand and a number •of guns. Then they rounded up all "the Mussulmans, whom they deported -to Brindisi. The Italian losses are severe. The Arst list contains thirty-seven officers

missing. There are disquieting rumors eon--cerning the fate of the Scutari garri*on.

Later messages show that the antiItalian rising in Albania is now general. The. Italian garrisons have been forced to quit several Adriatic seaports , and the e.vacuatio_ of Durazzo •«nd Scutari is imminent. PARIS, June 14. Rustem, an Albanian student, assassinated Essad Pasha (the President -t*f tlie Albanian R.epublic) in the Rue -de Castilione, holding him_ to be an •enemy of. Albania's aspirations. Essad Pasha was entering a motor from the Hotel Continental when Rus"tem, who was hiding behind a pillar, shot him twice with a revolver. The second bullet penetrated his heart, and "Essad dropped dead. Porters seized Rustem, whom the •crowd half lynched. Rustem said> he "wished to avenge Albania's wrongs, and that Essad had been plotting -against the newly-formed Republican ■Government. Essad came to Paris at the head of "the Albanian delegation and stayed Tiere since because Italy refused to per"permit him to return.

ROME, June 14. The garrisons at Santi Quaranta (8 "-miles north-east of Corfu), Dulcigno •{on the Montenegrin coast, 12 miles -south of Antivari), and Antivari have forced to embark. A small garrison at Tepeleni (75 -miles south-east of Durazzo), though ■surrounded for many days, is still "holding out, and is receiving rations from an aeroplane. Durazzo continues pluckily to resist, "but everyfJling is ready for evacuation. It appears that a national uprising is _ow in progress throughout Albania. Strikes of seamen and railwaymen are •occurri-iv*** in many Italian ports and "towns, the object being to prevent the ■dispatch of troops and material. PARIS, June 12. General Essad Pasha, ex-Dictator «f Albania, and the head of the Al r I>anian delegation to Paris, Was shot -dead by an/ Albanian youth outside liia hotel. The assailant was arrested / *mnd sa:d he acted upon a sudden impulse, . owing to the sufferings of the Albanians in ConstanJtinople. ROME, June 13. Quiet has been restored at Trieste. The Govern-ment is using military en_ ■gineers and ma-r'nes as volunteers to ran trains and load mun'tiorr-*-. The •strike is known as the "white" strike. ''Hie railway men simply fold their arms. and. don't leave the stations. "Passengers are compelled to disembark or depart ten miles buts'de the * -City.* ;.■■■-...

(Received June 15. 9.15 a.m.) PARIS, June 14. It transpires that Essad Pasha re.■oeived a warning a week ago, but he •did not take precautionary measures. Rustem apparently carried out the decision of the secret society. Rustem sa:d: "I acted on behalf of the -cause."