General News of 2012-10-22

Seizure of Argentine ship not act of war – Law lecturers

A Senior Law Lecturer at the Faculty of Law of the University of Ghana, Dr Domnic Ayine says the seizure Argentine navy training ship in Ghana cannot by any stretch amount to an act of war.

The Libertad - a three-masted tall ship - was detained in Tema port on 2 October in a row over Argentine debts. NML Capital, a subsidiary of US hedge fund Elliot Capital Management, which says Argentina owes it more than $300m (£186m), secured a court order to have the ship detained at the port.

President of Argentina, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has demanded the release of the ship, saying it cannot legally be held by creditors because of its military nature. The Argentine government has also suggested that Ghana, by this act, is perpetuating war against his country.

But Dr Ayine disagrees. Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show Monday, he said merely seizing a warship by a court order cannot be interpreted as an act of war or attempts to breach the peace.

“No, it [the seizure of the ship] cannot be an act of war, under international laws this is far from being an act of war,” he maintained, explaining further that “Under chapter 7 of the UN charter, this is far from being even a breach of the peace.”

Dr Ayine said Argentina’s anger against Ghana only stems from the embarrassment the matter has caused the nation but maintained the government of Ghana has nothing to do with the case and cannot interfere with the court process.

Mr Ernest Kofi Abotsi , also a law lecturer at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), added that Argentina must understand the issue “has nothing diplomatic about it.” He stressed it is Ghana's judicial process that is working and Argentina must respect that. Kofi Abotsi believes Argentina “may be just testing the will of Ghana to see if we will back off” and release the ship.

He said the only problem Ghana may encounter in this brouhaha is Argentina’s attempts to “create a diplomatic scenario justified or otherwise…”

Given the fact that Ghana is dealing not just with an ordinary but a naval ship, Mr Abotsi noted, Ghana - under international laws - could be seen as being hostile if it deals unjustly with the assets of that nation.

He, therefore, stressed the need for government to clearly establish the fact that it is not involved in this row, pointing out that the matter is purely between two private entities in a commercial transaction.

“If we [Ghana] are able to properly create that scenario, it’s not something Ghana should be worried about…”

He said government must also engage the Argentina government and make them understand “the executive doesn’t direct the judiciary… [and] the judiciary doesn’t make decisions based on political expediency or on the consideration of diplomatic consequences.”

He also observed that since government cannot order the ship to leave the Tema port as that will mean it is undermining the court, government can levy the creditors because “every ship at the habour must pay certain charges.”

“Probably the Ghanaian government may want to apply those charges as a means to creating discomfort for the creditors because the ship is berth there at the moment at the instance of the creditors,” Abotsi stated.