The UNHCR said an area of up to maximum 1sq/km of Camp Liberty[Temporary Transit Location] has been allocated for the temporary settlement of the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO, also known as MEK, NCR or PMOI) before they are completely expelled from Iraq.
The anti-Iran terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO also known as the MEK, NCR and PMOI) announced that it will not allow the remaining residents of its Camp Ashraf to be transferred to Camp Liberty..This inappropriate demand is an affront to Iraq’s sovereignty and in contrast to UN Secretary-General’s statement released on Thursday in which Ban Ki Moon reiterated that”the Government of Iraq bears the primary responsibility..
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will immediately start the process of verification and refugee status determinations, a key step in preparing the submissions of eligible candidates for resettlement in third countries.Today’s relocation is in line with the memorandum of understanding signed in December by the UN and the Iraqi Government to resolve the situation facing the residents of Camp New Iraq (formerly Camp Ashraf)..
The United States encourages Ashraf residents to continue their cooperation with Iraqi authorities and the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) as they work to complete the relocation to Hurriya, she said. The United States will continue to coordinate with UNAMI and the Iraqi government to follow the relocation process, she said. In addition to around-the-clock UN human rights monitoring, the U.S. will visit the temporary transit facility at Hurriya regularly and frequently,U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said on Saturday.
It is clear that for Camp Ashraf residents there is no future for them inside Iraq. It’s not easy for them to leave their place but I’m convinced this is the only peaceful alternative,”U.N. special envoy to Iraq Martin Kobler said shortly after the Ashraf residents arrived at a”transit site”on a vast former U.S. military base in Baghdad. From this new camp, a cluster of prefabricated houses in Camp Liberty, near Baghdad airport, they are due to make arrangements to settle outside Iraq…
Martin Kobler, the U.N. secretary general’s special representative and head of the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), was at the temporary site to welcome the new arrivals.“This is the first step towards a better future outside Iraq,” he said. “I look forward to their continued cooperation with the Iraqi authorities to complete the relocation without delay.”He also praised the Iraqi for having ensured the “safe and secure relocation” ..
Several hundred Iranian exiles were traveling to a UN-approved site near Baghdad on Saturday after leaving Camp Ashraf, where Iranian opposition members have been based for decades.The move is part of a December 25 deal between the UN and Iraq..Iraq had previously aimed to close Camp Ashraf in Diyala province..But Iraqi premier Nuri al-Maliki said on December 21 that his government had agreed to extend the deadline to April
“The residents of Camp Ashraf must make the decision to start this relocation process. Camp Ashraf is no longer a viable home for them. They have no secure future there,”said Fried…Fried urged the MEK aka MKO/PMOI to make the decision to move to Camp Hurriya, and he asked the group’s many supporters in Washington to convey that message directly to the MEK.