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Wed Dec 21, 6:19 am ET
BAGHDAD – Iraq's prime minister says he has granted a six-month extension on a deadline to close a camp that has housed Iranian exiles for decades in Iraq.
Nouri al-Maliki said on Wednesday that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asked him to delay the Dec. 31 closure date of Camp Ashraf.
The camp is home to about 3,000 Iranian exiles who at one time were supported by Saddam Hussein and sided with him against Iran during the Iran-Iraq war.
But the Iraqi Shiite-led government wants to close the camp and move the residents to another location.
The U.N. has been trying to broker a deal but has asked for more time.
Al-Maliki says the six-month extension started in November. He also says U.N. would relocate 400 to 800 of the residents to other countries by end of December.
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BAGHDAD – Iraq's prime minister says he has granted a six-month extension on a deadline to close a camp that has housed Iranian exiles for decades in Iraq.
Nouri al-Maliki said on Wednesday that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asked him to delay the Dec. 31 closure date of Camp Ashraf.
The camp is home to about 3,000 Iranian exiles who at one time were supported by Saddam Hussein and sided with him against Iran during the Iran-Iraq war.
But the Iraqi Shiite-led government wants to close the camp and move the residents to another location.
The U.N. has been trying to broker a deal but has asked for more time.
Al-Maliki says the six-month extension started in November. He also says U.N. would relocate 400 to 800 of the residents to other countries by end of December.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
