ITF appeals for the release of seized Argentine ship

Mr Emmanuel A. Mensah, Vice President of International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), has called for a timely resolution of the stalemate leading to the seizure of an Argentina Naval Ship in Ghana.

Mr Mensah, who is also the General Secretary of the General Transport, Petroleum and Chemical Workers’ Union of the TUC said the seizure of the ship attracted the attention of ITF Executive Board meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, which took place from October 24 to October 26.

The ITF is an umbrella Organisation of all Transport Mode made up of workers operating in railway, road transport, inland navigation, dockers, seafarers, fisheries, civil aviation and tourism services and globally affiliated members.

A statement issued by Mr Mensah and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Tuesday said both Ghana and Argentina are affiliated to the ITF hence the need for speedy resolution of the legal impasse.

“This will go a long way to deepen and strengthen the relations among our two countries at various levels.

The Argentine frigate Libertad was sailing the seas of the world taking cadets in their graduation trip and was detained at the port of Tema, following a Ghanaian court ruling that gives US-based Vulture Funds NML Capital the right to sell the ship unless Argentina settles a debt of defaulted bonds.

A crew of 281, mostly sailors and young cadets from Argentina and a number of guest countries like Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, South Africa, Suriname Venezuela and Uruguay have been repatriated, while negotiations between the governments of Ghana and Argentina are taking place in an attempt to free the Libertad.