to Camp Hurriya near Baghdad where most of the Mojahedin members now live.
The State Department issued a statement saying that with the Iraqis acting nicely the Mojahedin no longer had any reason to stop moving to Camp Hurriya.
More than 2,000 Mojahedin members moved to Hurriya over several weeks until the moves ended May 6. More than a thousand have stayed at Ashraf since then, despite demands by the Iraqi government for them to leave so that Iraq can reclaim the land.
The Mojahedin had issued a statement calling Hurriya unlivable and issuing a laundry list of needed improvements, starting with 300 air conditioners.
The State Department last week said Iraq had now allowed the Mojahedin to move from Ashraf to Hurriya 300 air conditioners, several large water tanks, additional generators, and three specially equipped vehicles for the disabled, among other items.
“It is now time,” the State Department said last Wednesday, “for the leaders of the residents at Camp Ashraf to take a similarly constructive step and immediately resume the relocation of residents from Camp Ashraf to Camp Hurriya. While some legitimate humanitarian issues need continued attention, prompt cooperation with UNAMI’s suggestions [the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq] is critical to achieving a peaceful, humane and secure outcome for the Ashraf residents.”
The purpose of the shift is to allow the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to interview the group’s members out of the control of the group’s leadership and to process them for transfer to other countries.
However, only three members have so far been accepted by other countries, and they all held citizenship or legal residence papers for those countries. No country has yet agreed to take a block of Mojahedin members as refugees.