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First group of 4 Australia's refugees arrives in Cambodia

Xinhua, June 4, 2015 Adjust font size:

The first group of four Australia's refugees, who agreed to resettle permanently in Cambodia, landed in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh on Thursday, as part of a controversial resettlement deal signed between Australia and Cambodia in last September.

The Myanmar's Rohingya minority man, an Iranian couple and an Iranian man, who were denied access to Australia and held on the tiny Pacific island of Nauru, arrived at the Phnom Penh International Airport at 10:25 a.m. local time via a Malaysia Airlines flight and they were transported out of the airport by a van organized by the Australian Embassy and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

"The first group of refugees to be settled from Nauru to Cambodia landed today on a commercial flight in Phnom Penh," the IOM, which is helping to facilitate the refugees' resettlement, said in a news statement on Thursday.

The group has transferred to temporary accommodation in Phnom Penh, where IOM will begin to provide essential support, including language training, cultural and social orientation, education services, health services and employment services, the statement said.

"IOM's involvement will be in the best interest of vulnerable refugees who voluntarily choose to settle to Cambodia," said IOM Cambodia Chief of Mission Leul Mekonnen.

The statement said the four refugees who arrived Thursday have specifically requested privacy during their arrival and integration into Cambodian society.

Their arrival came after Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen agreed to accept the four refugees on May 21.

Cambodian Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak told reporters on Wednesday that the four refugees will be temporarily housed in a villa in the capital's Chbar Ampov district, and the Australian will cover all direct costs of the settlement arrangement.

Cambodia and Australia signed a refugee deal in last September, under which Australia will send refugees, who intend to seek asylum in Australia and are being held in an offshore detention camp in Nauru, to resettle in Cambodia.

Australia had provided 31 million U.S. dollars in aid to Cambodia as part of the agreement, and last week it unveiled an additional 12 million U.S. dollars for the resettlement plan. Endi