AP Interview: UN Iraq rep urges exile cooperation

BAGHDAD (AP) ? The United Nations envoy to Iraq said Wednesday that residents of an Iranian dissident camp in Iraq are denied freedom of movement by the exile group, and that efforts to relocate them are being stymied in part by lack of cooperation from the residents themselves.

Martin Kobler made the comments in an interview with The Associated Press at his residence inside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone as he prepares to leave the country at the end of his term.

The U.N. mission to Iraq has been involved in relocating members of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq dissident group to a camp on the outskirts of the Iraqi capital while it works to resettle them abroad.

The MEK is the militant wing of a Paris-based Iranian opposition movement known as the National Council of Resistance of Iran that opposes Iran's clerical regime and has carried out assassinations and bombings there. They fear persecution if sent back to Iran.

About 3,100 MEK members live in Camp Liberty, a former U.S. military base near Baghdad airport. The Iraqi government wants the group's members out of the country. So do Iranian-backed Shiite militants, who have claimed responsibility for deadly rocket strikes on the camp.

Kobler acknowledged that a major problem in resettling camp residents is a shortage of countries willing to accept them, and he has repeatedly urged U.N. member states to do more. Albania has agreed to take 210 camp residents, but only 71 have made the move so far. Germany has also offered to take 100 residents.

A lack of cooperation from the exiles themselves is also to blame, he said.

"We do not have enough recipient countries. ... There is also reluctance from the side of the Liberty residents to cooperate with the UNHCR," he said, referring to the U.N. refugee agency.

Kobler also cited concerns about what he called "human rights abuses inside Camp Liberty done by the MEK themselves."

Residents are divided into various segments of the camp and have no freedom of movement between them without the approval of their supervisors, he said. Some residents are also denied Internet and mobile phone access by MEK officials and frequently do not have access to outside medical facilities, because they are prevented from leaving by the group, he alleged.

"There are, of course, MEK residents who probably would like to disassociate themselves from the MEK. They should be given the chance. Everybody who wants to go out of the camp to the Iraqi authorities should have the chance to do so," he said.

Shahin Gobadi, a spokesman for the NCRI, the affiliated Paris-based group, dismissed Kobler's comments as baseless.

"The only purpose they serve is they set the stage for more attacks" on the camp, he said. Gobadi also charged that "Kobler has never been an impartial person and does not represent the values of the U.N."

The MEK fought alongside Saddam Hussein's forces in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, and several thousand of its members were given sanctuary at a facility known as Camp Ashraf near the Iranian border. The MEK renounced violence in 2001, and was removed from the U.S. terrorism list last year.

Iraq's current Shiite-led government, which has close ties to Iran, considers the MEK a terrorist group and says its members are living in Iraq illegally. Iraqi security forces launched two deadly raids since 2009 on Camp Ashraf, and in 2012 most residents were moved to Camp Liberty, which is meant to be a temporary way station.

The exiles say their new home is unsafe and they want to return to Camp Ashraf. Several residents were killed in a Feb. 9 rocket strike on the camp, and two others died in a similar attack this month.

Shiite cleric Wathiq al-Batat, who leads the Mukhtar Army militant group, claimed responsibility for the strikes and vowed to carry out further attacks. The Iraqi government has said it is investigating and wants to arrest al-Batat.

Kobler said he believes Baghdad is serious about stopping attacks on the camp but is struggling to maintain security in the country.

"The government has an interest that these people leave. Whenever there is an attack, there is a feeling of solidarity and positions harden," he said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ap-interview-un-iraq-rep-urges-exile-cooperation-163517746.html

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