UN, US protection urged for Iranian exiles in Iraq

* Community said abused and threatened by Iraqi troops

* Camp with 3,400 people has existed 25 years

By Robert Evans

GENEVA, March 9 (Reuters) - The United Nations and the United States should take on protection of a community of Iranian exiles in Iraq that the Iraqi government wants dispersed, human rights advocates said on Wednesday.

They told a meeting on the sidelines of a session of the U.N. Human Rights Council that quick action was essential to head off a tragedy which might lead to the death of many residents of the exiles' Camp Ashraf north of Baghdad.

"Both the United States and the U.N. must resume protecting these defenceless people. This is a matter of morality, duty and honour," said Paddy Ashdown, former U.N. chief in Bosnia and one-time leader of Britain's Liberal Democratic Party.

"A tragedy is possible unless we act now."

Former Algerian prime minister Sid Ahmed Ghozali said the roughly 3,400 people in the 25-year-old settlement were fully entitled to protection under international humanitarian law and Iraq should halt its attempts to dislodge them.

People who have visited the camp say it is like a small town with schools, shops and sporting amenities all built by the exiles, who are largely members of the People's Mujahideen Organisation of Iran (PMOI).