HAMBURG, 13 January. Today, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea received its second case with the filing by Saint Vincent and the Grenadines of a request for the prescription of provisional measures in respect of the M/V "SAIGA" with the Registrar of the Tribunal. The Request is for an injunction against Guinea not to interfere with the freedom of navigation and related rights of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. It further requests that Guinea immediately comply with the Judgment of the Tribunal of 4 December 1997 in what was titled the M/V "SAIGA" case.

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines had, on 13 November 1997, submitted the case to the Tribunal for the prompt release by Guinea of the oil tanker M/V “SAIGA” and its crew. The vessel and its crew had been arrested and held by Guinea since 28 October 1997. The Tribunal ordered the immediate release of the vessel on the deposit by Saint Vincent and the Grenadines of United States Dollars 400,000 as a security in addition to the United States Dollars 1 million value cargo of gasoil that had been discharged from the vessel by the Guinean authorities.

The Request now submitted for provisional measures states that subsequently, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines posted a United States Dollars 400,000 Bank Guarantee with the Agent of Guinea, but that Guinea did not accept the terms of the Bank Guarantee and requested changes to be made to them. The changes in the terms requested by Guinea were considered “unreasonable and either irrelevant or unacceptable” by Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.