Të fshehtat djegëse të incidentit të Kanalit të Korfuzit
The thorny secrets of the Corfu Channel Incident

Summary/Abstract: On 22 October 1946, while on the Albanian territorial waters of the Corfu Channel, two British warships fell on mines, leaving behind lost lives and material damages. Both the Albanian and the British Government got involved into reciprocal accusations. The affair was sent to the United Nations Security Council and afterwards to the International Court of Justice. The Court threw the responsibilities on Albania, which was charged to pay for the damages. Since that day, and up to now, the decision of the Court has provoked many debates among the specialists. One of the cornerstones of this process was the nature of the passage (sailing) of the warships on October 22. As they had already done in front of the Security Council, during their statement at the Court, the British insisted on the version that the passage of their warships through the Corfu Channel, on October 22, was made in accordance with the international customary law and that it was an innocent passage. The orders for the sailing of the British warships were kept in the head station of the Mediterranean Fleet and were taken from there on October 1, 1948. The documents XCU and XCU I explained that the sailing would be provocative towards the Albanian cost guards. However, even the Court failed in obtaining these documents. On their behalf, the Albanians argued that the passage had not been peaceful. On the contrary, it had been aggressive and provocative. Meanwhile, the Albanian archives as well keep direct and indirect proof of an Albanian secrecy, which seems to be as thorny as the British one. High figures of the Albanian government were aware of the mining of the Corfu Channel by the Yugoslavians. After the Yugo-Albanian rupture, Corfu kept being a common secret, just as all the secrets kept after a divorce. That is why the culpability for the incident of the Corfu Channel is mutual, British and Albanian. Albania was declared guilty by the International Court of Justice with indirect evidence. The accusation that the mines were installed by the Albanian side was reversed by the argument that the country did not possess any means or specialists for this purpose. On December 15, 1949, the International Court of Justice, with 12 votes for and 2 against decided that Albania should indemnify the United Kingdom with the amount of £843,947. The Corfu incident is part of the erroneous development of the Yugo-Albanian relations, while the process itself accompanied the rupture of this rapport.

• Details
• Contents