The UN International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea ordered on Saturday the release of ARA Libertad, the Argentine naval training ship which has been detained in Ghana since October at the request of holders of defaulted Argentine state bonds.
The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea announced that the decision on the case involving the Argentine Navy frigate ARA Libertad retained in Ghana will be made public next 15 December. On Thursday both sides made their case in a several hours hearing at the seat of the tribunal in Hamburg.
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) certified that the ARA Libertad frigate is a military vessel, therefore, it can not be impounded, Argentina's ambassador to the UK, Alicia Castro, reported.
The Law of the Sea Tribunal in Hamburg confirmed the oral hearings’ date for 29 and 30 November referred to the Argentine vessel ARA Libertad impounded and retained in Ghana since 2 October, with a previous day of consultations with both litigants on 28 November.
Ghana rejected on Wednesday Argentina’s plea for Accra City’s Commercial Tribunal to drop the case that kept the ARA Libertad navy training frigate impounded at Tema port since October 2nd.
Argentina announced on Friday that the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea proposed November 29 and 30 as the days to hold the hearings between Argentina and Ghana over the seizure of the ARA Libertad Frigate at Ghana's Tema Port.
The Argentine government, as anticipated on Wednesday formally reported Ghana before the Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, in a bid to try to recuperate the ship that has been detained in Tema port since October 2. Argentina also announced it will demand compensation for the ‘illicit action’ losses.
Ghana port authorities, GPHA, on Wednesday re-established water and power supply to the Argentine Navy flagship ARA Libertad retained in Tema, according to naval sources from Buenos Aires.
Argentina warned on Monday that if by Tuesday Ghana does not release the retained Navy frigate ARA Libertad it will file a claim before the UN Law of the Sea International Tribunal in Germany.
Ghana’s government is expected to submit a petition on Monday to cut all water, electricity and fuel supply to Argentina’s navy training ARA Libertad frigate after armed sailors prevented an operation led by local port authorities, GPHA, who wanted to relocate the ship to another berth, spokesmen of Tema Port said.