U.S. concerned over Iraqi threats to force Iran dissidents from camp

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States expressed concern on Wednesday over Iraqi threats to force an Iranian dissident group out of a camp in Iraq, but it also urged members of the group to relocate voluntarily to a large former U.S. military base in Baghdad.

The United Nations also voiced concerns and urged both the Iraqi government and the Iranian dissidents to avoid violence.

Iraqi authorities have been locked in a protracted dispute with the Mujahadin-e Khalq (MEK) over plans to move 3,000 MEK members from Camp Ashraf, where they have lived for years, to a former U.S. base near Baghdad's airport - a step toward their ultimate expulsion from Iraq.

The Iranian group, which calls for the overthrow of Iran's clerical leaders and was supported by former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, is no longer welcome in Iraq under the Shiite-led government that came to power after Saddam's downfall in 2003. Clashes between Ashraf residents and Iraqi security forces last year killed 34 people.

"The United States is concerned by the government of Iraq's reference on July 31 to the possible closure of Camp Ashraf by involuntary relocation of its residents," State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said.

"We urge the government of Iraq to remain patient and flexible in seeking a voluntary arrangement for continued relocations, as only a peaceful resolution to the situation at Camp Ashraf is acceptable," he said in a statement.

"We also call on the Ashraf leadership to immediately resume cooperation with the relocation," Ventrell added.

The MEK has complained of poor conditions at the former U.S. base, known as Camp Liberty. Only about two-thirds of the group have moved there. The others, about 1,200 people, are refusing to leave Camp Ashraf. None have moved since May, U.S. officials say.

"The problem is not the intransigence of the residents' leadership," Shahin Gobadi, spokesman for the MEK's political wing, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, said in a statement. "The problem is that the government of Iraq receives all of its orders on Ashraf from the Iranian regime."   Continued...