Argentina drops financial claims against Ghana over warship

Argentina has agreed to drop all financial claims against Ghana over the ARA Libertad, a warship that was seized in the country, officials have said.

According to the Ghana government, it has signed an amicable settlement agreement with the South American country over the matter ending a year–long dispute.

“Under the amicable settlement, Argentina has agreed to discontinue the arbitration it initiated and has dropped all financial claims against Ghana,” said a statement issued September 27, 2013 by Ghana’s Ministry of Justice without giving details of the financial claims.

Presided over by H.E Judge Bruno Simma, the President of the Arbitral Tribunal, the agreement was said to have been signed Ghana’s Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Mrs Marietta Brew Appiah-Opong and her Argentine counterpart at the Permanent Court of Arbitration, in The Hague, The Netherlands.

That dispute arose when a High Court in Ghana ordered in October 2012 the arrest and detainment of the Argentine warship which was on a visit to the Port of Tema.

According to the statement, the agreement was concluded against the backdrop of a recent Supreme Court decision that the seizure of the warship was a violation of the immunity it enjoys under customary international law.

The Argentine navy ship was held in Ghana for over two and half months and finally departed the country’s shores on December 19, 2012.

Hamburg-based UN Tribunal on Saturday December 15, 2012 ordered Ghana to free the ARA Libertad.

The ship arrived in Argentina January 9, 2013.

By Ekow Quandzie