Syrian man becomes Australia's 6th refugee transferred to Cambodia from Nauru

A Syrian man has become the Australia's sixth refugee who resettled in Cambodia under a multimillion-U.S.-dollar deal signed between Cambodia and Australia in 2014, an immigration official confirmed on Tuesday.

The man, who was denied access to Australia and held on the tiny Pacific Island of Nauru instead, arrived in Phnom Penh on Sunday, said Tan Sovichea, chief of the refugee bureau at the Interior Ministry's immigration department.

"Now, the Syrian man is staying with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Phnom Penh," he told Xinhua.

IOM was hired by Australia to help with the transfers.

Last month, Cambodia approved the resettlement of three Australia refugees -- the Syrian man and one each from Afghanistan and Pakistan--but the two others had changed their minds and decided not to come to Cambodia, said Sovichea.

The Syrian man has joined the only other refugee, the Myanmar's Rohingyan minority man who still settled in Cambodia under the deal, as four other refugees who arrived here in June last year from Nauru have since opted to return to their home countries.

Cambodia and Australia signed a refugee deal in Sept. 2014, under which Cambodia agreed to take refugees held by Australia on the Pacific Island of Nauru in exchange for 30 million U.S. dollars in aid from Australia. Enditem