Feb. 2 (Bloomberg) -- United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Sudan’s government and rebels to halt fighting in the Darfur region that the UN says is threatening as many as 30,000 civilians.

Violence around the southern Darfur town of Muhajiriya between rebels of the Justice and Equality Movement, or JEM, and forces loyal to President Umar al-Bashir has also threatened relief agencies and UN staff in the area, the UN News Centre reported today on its Web site. Sudan has urged the joint UN-AU peacekeeping force to withdraw from the area.

“I urge maximum restraint on President al-Bashir and have urged JEM rebels to withdraw from the city to protect civilians,” Ban told a press conference today at the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. “We will continue to do our job there despite calls for the UN to withdraw by the Sudanese government.”

The current round of fighting started last month when JEM fighters dislodged a faction of the Sudan Liberation Army that is now allied with the government from Muhajiriya, 80 kilometers east of the South Darfur state capital Nyala. The faction’s leader, Minni Minnawi, signed a peace deal with the authorities in Khartoum in 2006 and is now a presidential adviser.

The year-old UN-AU peacekeeping mission to the region, known as Unamid, has about 60 percent of its planned 26,000 troops and police. The mission said that two of its camps in southern Darfur last week saw a marked increase in the number of people fleeing the conflict.

Death Toll

The UN says that as many as 300,000 people have died in the region in the past six years, mainly through disease and malnutrition, while violence has forced 3 million more to flee their homes. The government puts the death toll at about 10,000.

Ban refused to endorse an AU call for the UN Security Council to suspend a decision by the International Criminal Court whether to issue an arrest warrant for al-Bashir for genocide, war crimes an crimes against humanity.

AU leaders say an indictment of al-Bashir could worsen the conflict in Darfur and threaten the 2005 peace agreement that ended a two-decade war between Khartoum and South Sudan.

“This function and responsibility of the ICC is distinct and separate from the United Nations,” Ban said. “I will have to wait for the decision of the ICC.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Jason McLure in Addis Ababa via Johannesburg at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: February 2, 2009 11:14 EST