ARA Libertad is in the high seas; great reception in Mar del Plata on 9 January

The Argentine Navy flagship ARA Libertad set sail for Mar del Plata on Wednesday four days after a UN court ordered its release from the Tema port in Accra, Ghana, following a 77 day embargo (since 2 October) due to a claim by vulture fund NML Capital.

The tall ship with all its sails displayed and a huge Argentine flag left Ghana on Wednesday  

Sailors boarding ARA Libertad, frigate is expected to arrive in Mar del Plata on January 9th.  

A group of 98 Argentine sailors arrived earlier in the day in Ghana to complete the crew of 44 who remained under the orders of the captain and will oversee the training frigate’s return. In the midst of the conflict 281 sailors returned to Buenos Aires.

A spokesman of the Ghanaian port authority confirmed that the ARA Libertad was refuelled prior to its voyage. The navy vessel is expected to arrive in Mar del Plata on January 9th, President Cristina Fernández announced on Tuesday. A great reception is planned for the arrival.

On Saturday, the International Court of the Law of the Sea ordered Ghana to release Libertad, which was seized by orders of a court that accepted the claims of hedge fund NML Capital.

The twenty Justices from the Court of the Law of the Sea in Hamburg, including a former Ghana Judge, voted unanimously that war ships are immune to impounds based on the Law of the Sea and the Vienna convention.

A Ghanaian delegation including military personnel was at the port to see the frigate off. Tema Port Authority Lawrence Atumbine said that earlier on Wednesday the country’s Supreme Court had signed a resolution which invalidated the commercial court that supported the injunction.

“Now the frigate Libertad has become the symbol of sovereignty and national dignity against those who want to bully or run over Argentina”, said President Cristina Fernandez.

NML and other investment funds did not accept the restructuring of Argentine defaulted bonds in 2005 or 2010 and are demanding full payment of capital and interest. These funds or ‘vulture funds’ as Argentines call them are part of the 7% that did not accept Argentine restructuring terms, while 93% did accept the new bonds.

In the case of ARA Libertad the funds were demanding payment equivalent to 370 million dollars, capital plus interests.

Ghana port authorities want ARA Libertad moved to anchorage; Argentina refuses

Ghanaian officials asked a judge Thursday to order the Argentine navy ship detained in the West African nation over a debt dispute to be moved because it was blocking valuable space at the port of Tema.

Ghana's port authority appeared in Accra's commercial court following an October 19 filing asking for the ARA Libertad to be moved to an anchorage, saying the three-masted tall ship was harming commercial activity.

 Tema is Ghana's largest port and sees major traffic from commercial vessels.

“There is congestion at the port and commercial activities are virtually coming to a standstill,” a lawyer for the authority, Asare Darko was quoted by the local media.

“The situation is getting more and more chaotic. You can't put a military vessel in the midst of commercial vessels. As at yesterday, we could count about 20 vessels waiting to berth.”

A lawyer representing Argentina's government, Kizito Beyuo, told the court Buenos Aires would oppose the request and asked for an adjournment until November 1, which was granted.

NML Capital Limited, whose court claims led to the detention of the ship, will not oppose the request to move the frigate to anchorage, according to its lawyer Ace Ankomah.

More than 280 sailors -- most of them Argentines -- who had been stuck in Ghana for more than three weeks since the court detained their ship flew out aboard a chartered flight on Wednesday.

The group also included naval cadets from Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela.

Argentina was forced to organise the evacuation after an Accra court upheld an order secured by NML, a Cayman Islands investment firm, which said it is owed 370 million by Argentina.

NML, a subsidiary of New York-based Elliott Capital Management, bought Argentine bonds at a discount when the country's economy was in freefall in 2000. Buenos Aires later defaulted.

Argentina has rescheduled and refinanced much of its debt, but bonds held by speculative funds are among its unsettled business.

ARA Libertad: Argentine president pledges to never yield to ‘vulture’ funds

Argentine president Cristina Fernández in a national broadcast blasted ‘vulture funds’ retaining the impounded training frigate ARA Libertad in Ghana and pledged never to yield the dignity and sovereignty of the country to these funds.

 “The freedom, dignity and sovereignty of this country will not be retained by any vulture fund” said Cristina Fernandez

“As long as I'm the President, they might retain the Frigate, but the freedom, dignity and sovereignty of this country will not be retained by any vulture fund” said Cristina Fernandez on Monday during the nationwide broadcast from Government House.

The Argentine president questioned the vulture funds that initiated the conflict in Ghana, and said they ”believed they were going to put pressure on the country“ by applying this measure.

”What we went through these past days brings a lot of pain, and I say it as an Argentine citizen,“ the President assured over the conflict.

”I've seen some, luckily very few, who defended the vulture funds that had illegally retained our Libertad frigate in an African port, believing they were putting the pressure on us,“ she continued.

The head of state added ”we all have to be responsible in a country with 40 million Argentines if we want to be free and sovereign”.

Meantime in New York Foreign minister Hector Timerman met with UN top officials: the president of the Security Council, and UN Secretary General with whom it was agreed “to open talks with Ghana to exchange opinions on how to best resolve the conflict between Argentina and Ghana.

The detention of the training ship ARA Libertad was main topic of discussion previously labelled “a worrying precedent for world navigation,” by the government in a communiqué.

Timerman during the round of contracts was accompanied by Ambassador to the US Jorge Argüello, Deputy foreign minister Eduardo Zuian and the permanent representative to the UN, María Cristina Perceval.

According to the official report from Ban Ki-moon’s office, the Secretary General congratulated Foreign minister Timerman on Argentina’s accession to the Security Council during the 2013/2014 period.

In the meeting with Mr. Timerman, the Secretary-General thanked Argentina for its “steadfast support” of UN priorities and welcomed the South American nation’s new Permanent Representative-designate to the UN, Ambassador María Cristina Perceval.

The two men also discussed the ongoing diplomatic incident between Argentina and Ghana over the Fragata Libertad – an Argentine sailing ship used for naval training exercises which has been detained in Ghana’s port of Temma for almost three weeks, following an official request by local authorities.

“According to media reports, a Ghanaian judge ordered the seizure of the ship at the behest of NML Capital Ltd, a hedge fund group demanding full compensation from the Argentine Government following the country’s financial default over a decade ago”.

Mr. Ban “acknowledged the Government of Argentina’s concern for the well-being of its crew members and voiced hope that both Buenos Aires and Accra would find a way to address the issue of a bilateral basis, in accordance with international law, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, to which both nations are parties.

Ghana holds Argentine frigate over debt: Buenos Aires

Argentina on Wednesday alleged that Ghana is violating international law by holding one of its frigates under a court order by creditors suing Buenos Aires over its 2002 bond default.

Ghana's seizure of the warship Libertad "is against the Vienna Convention on diplomatic immunity," an Argentine foreign ministry statement said, alleging the lawsuit by NML Capital was fraudulent.

"The foreign ministry has already taken steps to clarify to the African nation's government the fraud these financiers have perpetrated," it said.

The director general of Ghana's ports authority confirmed the Libertad had been held in line with a court order.

"I can confirm that the ship has been detained in Ghana on the order of the court," Richard Anamoo told AFP.

"It is not Ghanaian authorities that have taken a decision to arrest or detain the ship, but rather it was a court order which needed to be complied with," he said.

"The owners of the ship would have to pay the money or appear in court to defend their case."

Between 2005 and 2010 Argentina refinanced and rescheduled its repayment of 93 percent of the almost $100 billion default it incurred in 2001.

Among the unsettled business were bonds held by speculative funds seeking to recoup their money through the courts.

 Argentina also has more than $6.5 billion in debt with the Paris Club of government creditors.

In Washington, the non-governmental American Task Force Argentina, which seeks fair resolution of the Argentine default, voiced its dismay.

"Argentina's status as an international scofflaw has been well documented," the AFFA said in a statement. "International creditors have won more than 100 court judgments against the Argentina government, but Argentina has refused to honor any of these judgments, even though it has the means to pay, with more then $45 billion in reserves."