Wed, 3 June 2015
Alice Cuddy
The first group of refugees from Nauru to accept resettlement in Cambodia under a controversial agreement signed with Australia last year is expected to arrive tomorrow, according to a government spokesman.

Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak said “if there is no change in plan”, the refugees - one from Myanmar and three from Iran - will arrive in Cambodia tomorrow morning, via a Malaysia Airlines flight.

“To my knowledge, I think that it’s tomorrow morning,” he said.

The four refugees who had previously been held on the Pacific island of Nauru were flown secretly to Darwin in Australia’s Northern Territory in early May and have been housed at an immigration facility near the airport ever since.

When they arrive, the refugees will be housed in villa-style accommodation, organised by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

They will also receive “intensive Khmer language and cultural and social orientation”, as well as “education services, health services, [and] employment services”, the IOM said in a statement earlier this month.

An IOM spokesman yesterday said the organisation had “not been told of any arrival date”.

Mrs Stroppy wrote:This is not going to end well!

They will spend about six months in Phnom Penh, learning the Khmer language and other skills, Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak said Wednesday.

The Australian government had offered $30 million in aid to Cambodia as part of the deal, and last week it announced an additional $12 million for the resettlement plan.

The Australian government has rented a 24,000-square-meter villa complex for them in the capital’s Chbar Ampov district, Khieu Sopheak said.

Kem Sarin, head of the refugee office at the Ministry of Interior, said last week a “pilot project” for refugees will help them adjust to life in Cambodia, including language, culture and traditions.