A spokesman for Ashton announced Monday that Jean De Ruyt, Belgium’s former ambassador to the EU, will serve in Brussels as “an adviser on the European Union’s response” to Camp Ashraf.
There was no suggestion as to what options were being considered. The United States and Iraq have both encouraged the EU member states to give refuge status to the 3,400 group members now trapped in Iraq. But no country has given a positive response.
It isn’t known if Ashton is even considering refuge status as an option. But some analysts said there would be no need for an adviser if the issue were just how to draft a written position paper. Help would be required, however, to travel around Europe to twist arms to take in group members as refugees and provide them with new homes.
The EU removed the Mojahedin-e Khalq from its list of terrorist organizations a year ago, opening the EU to the charge that it has no excuse any longer for refusing to accept any of the group’s members.
The United States still lists the organization as a terrorist group and has declined to take any of them in.
Almost all Iraqi political groups want the Mojahedin gone from Iraq. Baghdad has set various deadlines for their removal—but none of them has been met.
The United States started looking for homes for the Camp Ashraf residents in 2003. So far, it is believed only a few dozen have been resettled.