THE Cambodian embassy in the United Kingdom has ramped up its feud with anticorruption watchdog Global Witness, again accusing the group’s campaigners of suffering from “mental disabilities” and engaging in “hugely damaging smear campaigns” to discredit the Cambodian government.

In a statement released Tuesday, the embassy ridiculed calls from Global Witness for foreign donors to emphasise good governance issues at this week’s Cambodia Development Cooperation Forum.

“It is naive for Global Witness to imagine that Cambodia’s development partners are not fully aware of the way this pressure group engages in virulent and malicious campaigns,” the statement said.

In a statement Monday, Global Witness called for donors to tackle the “gross mismanagement” of the country’s natural resources during the meeting.

“The political elite has no intention of loosening its stranglehold over the country’s natural resource wealth. Donors simply cannot continue to turn a blind eye,” campaigns director Gavin Hayman said in the statement.