Myfit Libohova

Who was Myfit Libohova?

Myfit Bej Libohova or Mufid Libohova,was born in the southern Albanian city of Libohova, scion of a wealthy landowning family. He served initially in the Ottoman administration and represented Albania in the parliament of the Young Turks in 1908. Albania had declared its independence in 1912, but after the chaos of the First World War, no unity or real national government authority was achieved until the early 1920s. At the end of the First World War, Mufid Bey was among the chief promoters of the Congress of Durrës that led, on 25 December 1918, to the creation of a new provisional government headed by former Prime Minister Turhan Pasha. Mufid Bey took over the ministry of the interior and justice, and later became minister of foreign affairs. In April 1919 he left Albania to take part the Paris Peace Conference and to attend to Albanian interests there. In August 1919, on his return from Paris, he stopped over in Rome. During negotiations with the Italian government, he secured Italian recognition for Albanian independence and a promise that the Italian occupation of Vlora would be temporary. It is this turbulent period of Albanian history that Mufid Bey Libohova describes in his memoirs, “Politika ime ndë Shqiperi, 1916-1920”.He was member of the International Control Commission that governed Albania from January 22 to March 7, 1914. In addition, he was an Albanian government member on nine occasions from 1912 until his death in 1927, holding the positions of Justice Minister, Minister of the Interior, Minister of Finance, and Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was also the founder of the Bank of Albania, the Albanian national bank.