Talks on closing Iran exile camp in Iraq

UN-brokered talks are underway on relocating several thousand exiled Iranian opposition members from a camp north of Baghdad to another location in Iraq, officials said on Friday. Iraqi authorities have decided to close Camp Ashraf, which has hosted members of the People's Mujahedeen Organisation of Iran (PMOI) since the 1980s, by the end of 2011. "The primary and overall responsibility to deal with the situation in Camp Ashraf lies with the government of Iraq within its sovereignty," Martin Kobler, the UN secretary general's special representative for Iraq, told AFP on Friday. "In agreement with the government, we are in continuous contact with all parties, including the residents of the Camp and the members of the international community to facilitate a peaceful and durable solution," Kobler said. "In this, I count on the full cooperation of the Government of Iraq, the Camp Ashraf residents and the international community. International humanitarian standards and human rights have to be respected." "We are ready to assist," Kobler said. "It is in everyone’s interest to find a peaceful solution." According to an Iraqi official, the object is to move the PMOI to another location, then for the United Nations to help repatriate those with dual citizenship to their second countries, and the rest to Iran or another state. The UN insists that repatriation to Iran will be on a voluntary basis. "Ashraf residents ... have accepted the European Parliament plan to be transferred to third countries. And we are working full power in this direction," PMOI spokesman Shahriar Kia said by email. "The problem is that the precondition for transfer to third countries is confirmation of the refugee status of residents by the UNHCR (UN Refugee Agency)," he said. UNHCR has said it is ready to "initiate its work by verifying the identity of Ashraf residents," Kia said, but for "over two months now ... we are waiting and the Iraqi government (has been) stonewalling the UNHCR work from the beginning." Hundreds of Iraqis protested at Camp Ashraf on Friday, shouting slogans such as "Diyala is ours, we will not give it up, we will protect it until death," while the Iranian exiles held a counter-demonstration nearby, according to an AFP correspondent. The Iraqi demonstrators also carried banners with slogans such as "the people of Diyala demand the exit of the Khalq terrorist organisation from the province," and "the Khalq organisation and terrorism are two sides of the same coin." Mujahedeen-e Khalq is another name for the PMOI. Hundreds of PMOI supporters held a counter-protest within the camp, carrying the flag of the organisation and banners with Farsi slogans. Camp Ashraf, which has become a mounting international problem, has been in the spotlight since a deadly April raid on the camp by Iraqi security forces. The camp was set up when Iraq and Iran were at war in the 1980s by the PMOI and later came under US control until January 2009, when US forces transferred security for the camp to Iraq. The PMOI has been on the US government terrorist list since 1997.