20100911
africanews

LUANDA (Reuters) - The campaign for Angola's 2012 elections is off to a ill-tempered start with the ruling MPLA party and the opposition UNITA party accusing each other of dirty tactics that threaten a return to violence in the oil producing nation.

The polls will only be the second since the end of Angola's civil war that pitted the Russian and Cuban-backed Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) against UNITA, backed by the U.S. and apartheid South Africa.

The MPLA, which won the war in 2002 and 82 percent of the vote in elections two years ago, is likely to win the elections in 2012, but it looks increasingly worried about UNITA's accusations of not doing enough to fight poverty and corruption.

"UNITA has said things that can incite civil unrest through Radio Despertar," MPLA spokesman Rui Falcao told Reuters on Friday, referring to a recent interview by the leader of UNITA in which he said riots in Mozambique could take place in Angola.

UNITA leader Isaias Samakuva's made these comments after the government raised fuel prices by up to 50 percent last week. The deadly riots in Mozambique, which also took place last week, were triggered by a 30 percent rise in bread prices.

"But Angola is not like Mozambique," said Falcao. "We continue to work to improve the lives of ordinary Angolans."

Yet despite Angola's vast oil reserves and billions of dollars spent rebuilding roads, bridges and other infrastructure after the war, analysts say the government still has a long way to go to improve living standards in the West African nation.

An estimated two-thirds of Angola's population live on less than $2 a day, according to the World Bank, and the nation ranked in the bottom 19 of a Transparency International study last year.