The Mojahedin-e Khalq have accused the Iraqi government of cutting off water and electricity to Camp Ashraf in an effort to drive the last 100 members of the group out of that camp. The Iraqi government denied the accusation Sunday.
The dueling accounts over services are the latest installment in a long-running dispute between the group and the Iraqi government.
The Mojahedin-e Khalq alleges that Iraqi authorities shut off power and water supplies to Camp Ashraf on August 10. It says Iraqi forces are hauling off parts of the camp’s water system, and asserts some of the 100 remaining residents are becoming dehydrated inside the camp from a lack of water.
Georges Bakoos, who oversees the group for the Iraqi government, dismissed the allegations as ‘‘propaganda.’’ He acknowledged there are occasional power cuts at the camp, but said that is true all over Iraq.
‘‘I can assure you no order was given’’ to cut off supplies, he told the Associated Press. Iraqi officials are, however, moving ahead with court proceedings to evict the Camp Ashraf holdouts, Bakoos said, and that order may come in just a few weeks.
The Iraqi government has been trying to get the Mojahedin out of Camp Ashraf for years. About 3,100 members of the group are now at Camp Hurriya near Baghdad. But about 100 have stayed at Ashraf despite pressure from Iraq, the United States and the United Nations.
A spokesman for the Mojahedin, Shahriar Kia, said Sunday that Iraqi authorities had agreed to provide ‘‘limited hours of water and electricity’’ after more than two weeks of what he described as a total cutoff of services. Most of Iraq lacks a steady supply of electricity. The power supply grows even spottier when demand spikes during the sweltering summer months.
The spokeswoman for the UN mission in Iraq, Eliana Nabaa, said UN officials are not on the ground at Camp Ashraf and could not confirm the claims about the power and water cuts.
‘‘We take it seriously and are in constant touch with the government of Iraq, and continue taking it up with them to make sure that delivery of Camp Ashraf residents’ humanitarian needs is secured,’’ she said.
She said a total of 162 members of the group—or about 5 percent of the those stranded in Iraq—have so far been resettled abroad. Only Germany and Albania have agreed to accept any members of the group.
