Argentina calls for UN help over seized ship

A sailor from the Argentinian frigate Libertad runs pas the frigate on October 11 at Tema Port, near Accra. By Chris Stein (AFP/File)

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - Argentina's foreign minister on Monday called on the United Nations to help free a navy sailing ship seized in Ghana over an unpaid debt.

Foreign Minister Hector Timerman sought help from the UN Security Council and Secretary General Ban Ki-moon over the case of the ARA Libertad, which has been held in a Ghanaian port since October 2.

But the Security Council president, Gert Rosenthal, Guatemala's UN ambassador, said the 15-member body could not intervene in what was a legal dispute over an outstanding debt.

"I explained to the foreign minister, and he knows that the Security Council is concerned with the maintenance of global peace and security and that this case is not exactly threatening world peace," said Rosenthal, who is chair of the council for October.

Timerman went on to meetings with Ban and UN General Assembly president Vuk Jeremic, telling reporters he had prepared a document setting out his country's case. He called the seizure of the ship "completely illegal".

The three-masted tall ship, which has a crew of 300, has been held in a port near Accra since a Ghanian court backed an order sought by a Cayman Islands investment fund which says it is owed more than $370 million by the Argentine government.