MKO sets conditions for relocation

As Iraq's deadline for the closure of Camp Ashraf approaches, the ringleader of the terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization says the MKO will accept the UN offer to relocate if certain conditions are met.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/216820.html

Maryam Rajavi said in a statement on Tuesday that the camp's residents were "in principle" prepared to relocate on condition that the UN, the US and European Union support and endorse the proposal, and the Iraqi government guarantees the safety and well-being of residents.

Iraq, which considers Camp Ashraf and its residents a threat to its national security, has announced its irrevocable decision to close down the camp by the end of 2011.

Camp Ashraf, about 120 kilometers (74.5 miles) west of the Iranian border, houses some 3,400 MKO members.

Based on the UN offer, MKO members will be relocated to Camp Liberty, the recently vacated US military base where they would wait for resettlement in other countries.

The MKO has demanded that no Iraqi forces be allowed into the camp, independent UN and US observers be based at the new location, and medical supplies as well as international supervision of the transfer of residents and all belongings to the new camp be provided.

The group fled to Iraq in 1986 where it enjoyed the support of Iraq's executed dictator Saddam Hussein and set up Camp Ashraf in Diyala Province, near the Iranian border.

MKO is known to have cooperated with Saddam in suppressing the 1991 uprisings in southern Iraq and the massacre of Iraqi Kurds. It has also carried out numerous acts of terrorism against Iranian civilians and government officials. Iran has repeatedly called on the Iraqi government to expel the group, but the US blocked the expulsion by mounting pressure on the Iraqi government.