(FINalternatives): An Argentina naval vessel impounded at a Cayman-based hedge fund's behest still can't leave Ghana, but most of its crew can. Most of the 326 people aboard the Argentine navy's flagship, the ARA Libertad, are to leave the ship and the West African country, where they have been stuck since the beginning of the month. Argentina has chartered an Air France flight to bring some 281 crew members, primarily navy cadets, back to Argentina, choosing the French carrier reportedly because it feared its own planes could be seized themselves upon arrival in Ghana. The Libertad will remain in the hands of a skeleton crew and its captain and Argentina seeks to win its release while refusing to give in to Elliott Management, which won the seizure through an affiliate.

Elliott and NML Capital have been fighting Argentina for years over that country's 2001 sovereign debt default. The hedge funds are demanding to be paid full value for their bonds; Argentina dismisses them as "vulture funds."

The evacuation was necessitated by the court order that keeps the Libertad in Tema—it bars the ship from refueling, which imperils everything from cooking to fire protection, Argentina said.

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