ACCRA: Ghana said on Tuesday that it will comply with an international tribunal's order to free an Argentine navy ship which has been held in the West African country since October 2 over a debt dispute.
The Hamburg-based International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea on Saturday called on Ghana to immediately release the Argentine tall ship, the Libertad.
Deputy Information Minister Samuel Ablakwa told AFP that Ghana has decided to file a motion that would seek to set aside the order of a domestic court that called for the ship to be detained.
That order was secured by NML capital, a Cayman Islands investment firm that says Argentina owes it $370 million.
In order for the ship to be released without violating domestic law, the Commercial Court in Accra must first quash the ruling that called for the ship to be held, Ghanaian officials have said.
Ghana's attorney general will seek such a ruling in the coming days, according to Ablakwa.
"We have taken the decision that (the petition) will be filed so that we will be in strict compliance with the UN court's ruling," he said.
It was not clear when the three-masted sailing frigate would be cleared to leave the port of city of Tema, where it has been docked for more than two months.
Argentina rescheduled and refinanced much of its debt following an economic crisis and massive default a decade ago, but bonds held by speculative funds such as NML, a subsidiary of New York-based Elliott Capital Management, are among its unsettled business.
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