Frigate Libertad:
Ambito Financiero: “‘Per saltum’ for the Frigate: they will go to international court”
Clarin: “Cristina: ‘The claws want to drive into us from outside”
Clarin: “Officials have a bad time on the ship”
La Nacion: “Special mission sent to Africa by the government to negotiate returns”
Ambito Financiero
“Per Saltum” for the frigate: they will go to international court
Friday, October 19, 2012
By Carlos Burgueno
Richard Adjei Frimpong. This is the name of the judge in the Commercial Court of Ghana that for the Argentine government would have “oily” links with Peter (sic) Singer, the head of the vulture fund MNL (sic) Elliott, which managed to get the judge to detain the frigate Libertad in the port of Tema. The information that is arriving from Accra, the capital of Ghana where Argentine officials are already working to establish the final strategy to release the ship, Defense Vice Minister Alfredo Forti and Vice Foreign Minister Eduardo Zuain are talking about the impossibility of this judge ruling in this direction, as he’s seen as a man “convinced” with Singer’s rights.
So, by paying only US$20 million in insurance that Frimpong demands, the frigate would be released; a decision that in no way the government of Cristina Kirchner can or wants to take. Beyond that it is a decision of the President to not have her arm twisted by the pressure of a vulture fund, legally Argentina could not accept the liquidation of the bond because the so-called “locked-shut law” as part of the debt swap of 2010 impedes it. According to this rule, the possibility of settling debt still outside the swaps of 2005 and 2010 is prohibited by law, to shelter the creditors that accepted the two haircuts proposed by Argentina and that brought forward a restructuring of almost 95% of the total balance in default. The almost US$5 billion that remains out, and which is mostly owned by the vulture funds like Elliott which took action before Frimpong in Ghana, cannot collect as that action is already prohibited by law.
Before the panorama of knowing that action cannot be taken before the Ghanaian judge for his intransigence in favor of Peter (sic) Singer and the political and legal refusal to pay the bail, Argentina is putting forward two possible scenarios. One of them will be chosen, certainly by this weekend, by Cristina de Kirchner:
· Taking action inside Ghanaian justice. According to what was communicated to the Argentine envoys from the African government, they were given the information about the power of “convincing” that Singer would have had over Frimpong. It was recommended to take action in a species of Appeals Court within the Ghanaian judicial system, where they assure that Argentina’s position could have greater luck. The presentation includes the defense of the release of the frigate being exercised by the Ghanaian government itself , under the formula of “amicus cureae”: to represent another Executive Branch before its own courts. Argentina should stop litigating in Frimpong’s courtroom and accept the case arriving in Appeals (a kind of intermediary between the lower and higher courts in Argentina). The government of Ghana promises that this strategy would be rapid and favorable for the country. However, some issues of confidence and some somewhat volatile words from the African government have created doubts for this path.
· Taking action in international courts. The recommendation of the Foreign Ministry and various local experts in international law is that the case be taken directly to the International Court of the Law of the Sea. This is an independent organ, linked to the United Nations, established in Hamburg, Germany, and which has powers to resolve the application of the Convention of the Law of the Sea of 1970. Both Argentina and Ghana are part of this convention, so they can turn to the organization. It has 21 members, began to operate in 1994 and has experience in cases like the Libertad, as a majority of the intervention requests respond to claims of “releasing ships and their crews (article 292 of the convention).” According to that article, war ships and other ships of the state with non-commercial ends are protected by sovereign immunity and consequently free of requisitions and attachments. This legalistic way out would have two problems in being applied. The first is seasonal, as a case before this court could take up to a year of processing, before a final resolution with the votes of the 21 members. It would be difficult that the court would also accept a summary decision for this case. The other counter-indication is that before that tribunal the accused would be the Ghanaian government with whom Argentina has good relations and is negotiating a way out inside the African country’s judicial system.
The Libertad is stranded in the port since October 2, after Frimpong decided to value the rights of Singer’s Elliott over a collection demand of some US$370 million. According to the Argentine position, the detention of the frigate constitutes a violation of the Vienna Convention, as military ships are protected by diplomatic immunity; which has not been taken into account, obviously, by Frimpong.
Yesterday the frigate spent its 16th day anchored in the port of Tema. From the Argentine government they assure that the morale is high and the majority of the sailors and collaborators are ready to survive all that is necessary inside the ship, until the situation is resolved. According to this position, the crew of the Libertad would be trained to withstand pressures of this type; beyond the fact that in all ways there are long hours of distraction in the port of Tema, including multi-sport tournaments in the legendary Juan Domingo Peron stadium: at the foot of the pier where the frigate remains until a conclusion.
Clarin
Cristina: “The claws want to drive into us from outside”
Friday, October 19, 2012
After depositing one of the seven national flags that were unfurled on the Malvinas Islands in 1966 at the foot of the Our Lady of Itati basilica in Correintes, during the “Operation Condor”, Cristina Kirchner reviewed the achievements of her leadership and asked for national unity. “Before the virgin of Itati I want to ask all Argentines that it is necessary, in a difficult and complex world where the claws want to drive into us from outside, that we be united because national unity is the basic budget for continued growth.”
While she gave no details, it seemed to be an allusion by the President to the retention of the Frigate Libertad in Ghana at the request of a vulture fund before the United States judiciary, which demands collection on a multi-million dollar sum. The Argentine government is seeking to avoid having it become a bigger laughing stock, while refusing to pay a fixed bail of US$20 million.
In a speech with various allusions to the virgin and her husband, Nestor Kirchner, who she again called “Him”, the President said that one should pray “for those that still don’t understand that it’s necessary to collaborate with solidarity and humility” and for them to “comprehend the necessity for more love and not more hate.”
Cristina spoke after the offering inside the church, entering with UCR Governor Ricardo Colombi, who received her at the Correntino airport, and bishops Andrés Stanovnik, Ricardo Faifer and Hugo Santiago. The Church didn’t not allow speaking inside the Basilica. Cristina took it upon herself to say why they’d come together that day. “You came to honor a promise that was made to a woman 46 years ago, together with her comrade Dardo Cabo and 18 Peronists, and at that time in the dictatorship, in an act of patriotism and national recognition, went to our Malvinas to plant our national symbol of sovereignty.”
Cristina made reference to the young people who today “have the immense luck of waving the flags in a full democracy of rights, of guarantees,” while those that fought in the Malvinas and those persecuted by the dictatorship “had to raise the banners at times where there were prohibited to think.”
Reporting: Alfredo Zacarías (Correspondent)
Clarin
Officials have a bad time on the ship
Friday, October 19, 2012
By Natasha Niebieskikwait
They traveled the 25 kilometers in sportswear between Accra and Tema. They arrived in the port to carry a message to the stranded troop. “We want to bring you greetings and support from the Argentine people,” they announced.
The coldness and anger from the sailors was visible.
Witnesses to the visist said that they were there no longer than 15 minutes and abandoned the ship and headed back to Ghana’s capital. When Defense Secretary for International Affairs Alfredo Forti, and of Foreign Relations, Eduardo Zuain, had already left, the sailors of the Frigate Libertad let loose: they confessed to their superiors that they wanted to “beat them”.
Disappointed prevailed on the teaching vessel after the visit of the special mission sent by the government. Added to the uncertainty that prevails in Tema is that the superiors don’t report news to their subordinates. The instructions from the ship’s captain, Lucio Salonio, is to pretend everything is absolutely normal. For that, in the 17 days that the Frigate has been stranded by the decision of Ghana’s judiciary, the order is to create a life that is most similar to the day to day for the Frigate in the port or on the high seas. Everyone gets up at the same programmed hour as on usual days and they rigorously maintain their activities. Yesterday, something broke in the mood of the forces because, according to what they said to this newspaper, they felt “coldly treated”. It’s unknown if the ambassador in Nigeria, Susana Pataro, was along for the visit; she was surprised in Abuja by the whole incident of the ship.
Forti and Zuaín were sent by the government to Ghana after the judicial setback in Accra, where Richar Adjei Frimpong backed the plaintiffs, the U.S. fund NML, which requested attachment of the Frigate and has kept the ship detained until a new judicial hearing.
The officials sent by the government of Cristina Kirchner to Africa held meetings in the Ghanaian foreign ministry on Tuesday which, as this newspaper reported, tried to favor Argentina in a political negotiation from the African country’s judiciary also rejected with the argument that the ship was an attachable asset because Argentine renounced its immunity when it subscribed the bonds under foreign law whose payment the vulture fund is seeking.
Forti and Zuaín were also seeking to meet with Judge Frimpong, but until now the government has not reported any word on this effort. According to what Clarin could learn, the two officials delayed their return by a day, and until yesterday they were thinking of returning today to Buenos Aires.
However, the families of the sailors have already gathered over social media with messages where they mix complaints over the ship’s situation and the sailors stranded in Ghana with salary complaints that come from the protests of the coast guard and the federal police and other measures.
La Nacion
Special mission sent to Africa by the government to negotiate returns
Friday, October 19, 2012
By Martin Dinatale
Amidst great secrecy and an outlook with little optimism, the mission that Argentine sent to Ghana to undo the conflict over the Frigate Libertad – tied up in the port of Tema – will return today to Buenos Aires. They will leave Argentine diplomats in the African country to continue the efforts.
Yesterday there was no official explanation over the result of the negotiations with the government of Ghana to avoid any progress in court with the request for attachment of the Frigate from the vulture funds. However, an internal cable of the Foreign Ministry last night reported on the return of Vice Foreign Minister Eduardo Zuain and Vice Defense Minister Alfredo Forti, who had traveled last Saturday to Accra to meet with the authorities of Ghana.
"The negotiations are very complicated and for now there are no signed of reaching an agreement,” a diplomat, who followed from Buenos Aires the efforts that were being made all week in Accra, briefly explained to LA NACION.
Forti and Zuain will return today to Buenos Aires on a flight via Rome. However, staying in Ghana will be the Argentine ambassador based in Nigeria, Susana Pataro, and the Argentine consul also in Nigeria, Sebastián Zabala.
They will continue the diplomatic negotiations with the authorities of Ghana to try to allow the Frigate Libertad to set sail. They will count on the logistical support of the embassy of Brazil in Accra, as Argentina lacks a diplomatic headquarters in the place.
It would seem that the diplomatic negotiations with the government of Ghana have not gotten far in recent days.
The Argentine mission topped off its last days with the refusal of the African government to interfere in the decision of Judge Richard Adjei Frimpong, of the Commercial Court of Accra, which sided with a request for attachment from the fund NML.
The judge in Ghana understood that by issuing bonds Argentina renounced diplomatic immunity of its assets, among them the Frigate Libertad.
Argentina argued that according to the Vienna Convention war ships have immunity.
Beyond the diplomat complaints and international pressure that Argentina will impose on Ghana, it now only seems able to undo the conflict in international courts.
Corvette stranded in South Africa
As if the episode of the Frigate Libertad wasn’t enough, the Navy suffered another scare in Africa. The corvette Espora is stranded by a technical problem near the port of Cape Town, while participating in joint exercises with ships from Brazil, Uruguay and South Africa, in the Altasur operation. The ship, which carries 105 crew members, suffered inconveniences in one of its four current generators.
Ambito Financiero
Viernes, 19 de octubre de 2012
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