Cambodia, Australia further discuss refugee resettlement plan

Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong met with Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton on Thursday to further discuss a refugee resettlement plan following an agreement struck by the two countries in September.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Cambodian spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Koy Kuong said Dutton told Hor Namhong that in a pilot project, Australia will send between three and five refugee-families in Nauru to Cambodia, but there is no exact date of the sending.

The Cambodian foreign minister reiterated that Cambodia will take in Australia's refugees in Nauru in a "voluntary basis."

"We do not force any refugees to come to Cambodia -- we accept only any refugees who agree to come to Cambodia voluntarily," Koy Kuong quoted Hor Namhong as saying to Dutton, adding that the International Organization for Migration (IOM) is also ready to help Cambodia on this plan.

Asked how many refugees have agreed to come to Cambodia, Koy Kuong said, "There is no yet. The important thing is that we have to make them understand the situation in Cambodia first."

Cambodian Interior Minister Sar Kheng said in January that only three of the Australia's refugees in Nauru agreed to meet with a Cambodian delegation on a resettlement plan.

He said he did not know whether the three refugees would come to resettle in Cambodia or not.

Cambodia and Australia signed the refugee deal on September 26, under which Australia will send refugees, who intend to seek asylum in Australia and are being held in an offshore detention camp in the tiny Pacific nation of Nauru, to resettle in Cambodia. Endi