Ambassador Thrown Out

The Eviction of the Bulgarian Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Peneff Nenacho from his East Cantonments premises yesterday drew a sizeable crowd comprising security personnel, members of the diplomatic corps, legal personnel and ordinary passers-by. When newsmen arrived at the scene at about 12:15pm, the Ambassador?s furniture, refrigerator and other belongings had been thrown outside the premises, which served as both residence and embassy.

At the same time, a hot exchange of words took place between those who were parking the items outside and workers of the embassy who tried to avoid the ensuing embarrassment by preventing the items from being thrown out.

According to eyewitness? account, a combined team of military and police personnel rushed to the scene earlier on the instance of the Ambassador, who allegedly claimed that he was being attacked by armed robbers.

According to Mr Theophilus Leighton, owner of House Number 2, East Cantonment, the building in contention, the Bulgarian government owed him an amount of $827,520.77 in rent arrears since June 16, 1993. He said the eviction was only in fulfillment of a court order given by an Accra High Court Judge, Mr. Justice Anthony Abadah.

He noted that there was an earlier dispute between him and the embassy in 1990 which was settled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, concerning the house which was rented out in October, 1978.

?At the end of the mediation in the dispute, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs directed that after the expiration of the rent advance which the embassy had then paid me, it should resume rent payment to me as from June 16, 1993. After that date, the embassy failed to pay me the expected rents while still occupying the said building.?

That assertion of Mr Leighton?s was however contested by Mr. Amarkai Amarteifio, counsel for the embassy, claiming that his client had paid the landlord a huge sum of money in 1983, covering the rent for a 50-year period. He described the forceful eviction of the Bulgarian diplomat as a gross violation and invasion of the territorial integrity of a sovereign nation.

?It is against international law. It is against the Vienna Convention and it is against the Ambassador?s diplomatic immunity.?

Mr Amarteifio criticized Mr Leighton?s group for violating the Ambassador?s diplomatic immunity by towing away his official vehicle, a white Mercedes Benz with registration number CD 4100 A to an unknown destination. He said the group had no right, under any circumstances, to have disconnected the house?s electricity supply as that was the preserve of the Electricity Company of Ghana.

Mr. Thomas Ward-Brew, counsel for the landlord, on the other hand, disagreed with Mr. Amarteifio, saying his client had not broken any international law but only carried out the orders of a court.

Amarteifio, who insisted the place was a Bulgarian property, initially ordered the embassy?s security personnel to drive Ward-Brew and Mr Leighton out of the house. The resistance of Ward-Brew however won the day as he would not budge or move an inch from the house.

Among the diplomats who were present at the Bulgarian embassy yesterday were Filiberto Sebregondi, Head of the European Union delegation in Ghana; Mohammed Benlabat, Malian Ambassador and dean of the diplomatic corps in Ghana; and Ali Bangora, deputy dean and Sierra Leone?s High Commissioner to Ghana.

As at the time newsmen were leaving the scene around 1:30pm, the items were being conveyed back into the house.

One George Addo, a participant in the eviction exercise, who promised talking to DAILY GUIDE, could however not do so as he and a few others received a call they said came from the Chief Justice and therefore had to leave, with a promise that they would return to continue their work.

As at the time of going to press, DAILY GUIDE learnt the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Joe Ghartey and some officials from the Castle, the seat of government and others from both the State Protocol Department and National Security had come to the scene trying to resolve the impasse.