Australia's 5th refugee transferred to Cambodia from Nauru

An Australia's refugee was secretly transferred to Cambodia last week from the Pacific island of Nauru, becoming the fifth person to move to the kingdom under a controversial multimillion-dollar deal signed with Australia last year, a local English newspaper reported on Thursday.

Joe Lowry, the International Organization for Migration's Asia-Pacific spokesperson, said a male refugee arrived in Cambodia last week for whom the IOM "is providing resettlement services."

"More than that I cannot say," he was quoted by the Phnom Penh Post as saying, citing the IOM's confidentiality rules.

Services offered to refugees who volunteer for resettlement under the deal have included Khmer language lessons, health and employment services, and cultural and social orientation.

In June, the first refugees to arrive under the deal -- a reportedly ethnic Rohingyan man from Myanmar, two Iranian men and an Iranian woman -- were temporarily put up in a sprawling villa on the outskirts of Phnom Penh.

The refugee from Myanmar returned home last month, while the three Iranians have since moved into accommodation elsewhere in the city.

Kerm Sarin, spokesman of the Interior Ministry's refugee department, said the fifth refugee was an ethnic Rohingyan man. Endit