The United Nations and the Iraqi Government signed an agreement to relocate Iranian exiles living in a camp in northeastern Iraq.
The U.N.'s office in Baghdad made an announcement to this effect yesterday. The Iraqi government has been insisting to close the camp by the end of this month.
Camp Ashraf has been the base of dissident Iranians led by the People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran.
The group moved to Camp Ashraf during the regime of Saddam Hussein and sided with Iraq in the war against Iran in the 1980s.
The camp, now home to 3400 dissident Iranians will be shifted to Camp Liberty, a former U.S. military base near the Baghdad International Airport.
Under the agreement, UN High Commission for Refugees will monitor the relocation while Iraqi Government will be responsible for their security.
UNHCR would decide the refugee status for the residents of Ashraf here. This is considered to be the first step toward resettlement to the third countries other than the native or the host countries.
