Manila - The United States on Friday announced it was providing relief assistance worth 2.5 million dollars to thousands of residents displaced by a recent outbreak of hostilities in the southern Philippines.

US ambassador to Manila Kristie Kenney made the announcement during a visit to a camp for internally displaced persons in Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Maguindanao, 960 kilometres south of Manila.

According to the National Disaster Coordinating Council, more than 300,000 people are still displaced by the fighting between the military and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels in the southern region of Mindanao.

Kenney said the US assistance would consist of 1,480 metric tons of US rice valued at approximately 2 million dollars, as well as water, health and sanitation support.

"My thoughts are with those who have been displaced by fighting, people whose lives have been lost and disrupted," she said.

"Working together, we can help Mindanao move toward peace and prosperity, so the citizens, especially the children, may have the future they deserve," she added.

Fighting has been on and off between the military and the MILF rebels since August when the guerrillas launched a series of deadly attacks in Mindanao.

The MILF attacks occurred after the Supreme Court stopped the signing of a land deal that would have expanded an autonomous Muslim region in Mindanao.

More than 200 people, including civilians, were killed in the MILF attacks and subsequent clashes with the military. At the height of the fighting, more than 500,000 people were forced to flee their homes in fear of being caught in the crossfire.

Due to the hostilities, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo dissolved the government peace panel negotiating with the MILF and ordered a review of the peace talks with the rebel group.

Various organizations, including the Organization of the Islamic Conference, have called on the Philippine government and the MILF to resume the stalled talks.

But Arroyo has stressed the government will only return to the negotiating table if the MILF disarms and demobilizes its forces and reintegrates its fighters into the mainstream community. (dpa)