“The situation on the ground is still very fluid and very confusing,” Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Edmond Mulet told reporters afterwards. “You have actions from the JEM [the rebel Justice and Equality Movement], you have actions from SLA/MM [Sudan Liberation Army/ Minni Minawi – another rebel group], you have actions from the Government, fighting each other, so it is very complex.“The problem here is that they have chosen right now to follow the path of confrontation and war instead of negotiations,” he said of the conflict between rebels and the Government and allied Janjaweed militiamen that has led to an estimated 300,000 deaths since 2003 and forced 2.7 million people to flee their homes. “We do hope that the Council will call on all parties to stop these military actions and to abide by the respect of humanitarian laws and the respect of civilians who have been the recent victims again of this fighting,” he added.The joint African Union-UN mission in Darfur (UNAMID) reported today that two of its camps in South Darfur continued to face an increase in the number of civilians seeking refuge as a result of recent clashes. Joint UN-AU Special Representative Rodolphe Adada told UN staff at mission headquarters in El Fasher following recent fighting in North and South Darfur that UNAMID will continue its mandated operations of protecting civilians, ensuring that humanitarian assistance is provided to those in need and finding a political solution to the crisis.Aerial bombing and artillery fire erupted for a second day yesterday on the outskirts of El Fasher in North Darfur, with Government assaults some nine kilometres from the city seeking to clear the area of advancing rebels. 28 January 2009A senior United Nations peacekeeping official briefed the Security Council today on Sudan’s war-ravaged Darfur region, where the security situation remains tense following fighting between various rebel groups and the Government.