The European Union said Friday it was providing nearly 600,000 euros (640,500 dollars) in emergency humanitarian aid for hundreds of thousands of people displaced by fighting in the southern Philippines, dpa reported.

Half of the grant or 300,000 euros would fund relief supplies and psychosocial support for an estimated 120,000 evacuees in Maguindanao province, 960 kilometres south of Manila, where fighting between rebel factions escalated in February.

'The two-month emergency project will more specifically focus on the most vulnerable families,' the EU said in a statement.