EU aids Angolan civic groups ahead of polls

(LUANDA) - The European Union will give about 1.5 million euros ($2.0 million) for Angolan civic groups to educate voters and monitor elections due this year, the EU delegation in Luanda said Tuesday.

"Five civic projects were selected and will be aided by around 300,000 euros each," Carolina Cordeiro, head of the delegation's political section, told AFP.

The projects include training for radio journalists and election observers.

The grant is part of a 250-million-euro EU aid programme for Angola for the years 2008-2013.

The EU will also provide support to Angola's national election commission, tasked with organising the polls.

"The holding of the 2012 elections is an important step in the consolidation of democracy in Angola," the EU delegation said.

With election months away, the commission was at the centre of a controversy when a member of the ruling was appointed to head it.

Protests in Luanda and the southern city of Benguela were violently dispersed Saturday, when activists tried to rally against President Jose Eduardo dos Santos and the elections chief Suzana Ingles.

Police said they were preventing clashes between rival protesters and said they would investigate the violence.

The main opposition Unita party and the smaller Democratic Bloc have denounced the violence and also criticised Ingles's appointment