A UN report has called on the Sudanese government to halt its increased military response to the ongoing rebel violence in Darfur, saying ``the security conditions in the region is deteriorating''.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who wrote the report on the situation in Darfur, said that ``an escalation in rebel violence and the military response from the Sudanese government have created a volatile situation in the region''.

A copy, which was made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the UN today stated that Ban called for an end to the hostilities and for rebel and government leaders to implement the comprehensive peace accord reached in 2006.

He also said it had become increasingly difficult to secure aid being sent to refugees and internally displaced persons. ``Additionally, humanitarian aid workers are being targeted by rebels and are in danger of airstrikes from the Sudanese military,'' the UN scribe noted.

``I call on the (Sudanese) government to comply with its obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law, in particular with regard to the protection of civilians,'' Ban wrote in the report.

The secretary-general further said that the UN-AU peacekeeping mission,``despite its broad mandate for the protection of civilians and assistance to peace implementation, is not designed to create a sustainable solution to the Darfur crisis''.

``That is the responsibility of the parties to the conflict,'' he added. NAN reports that the the U.S.-based international rights agency, Human Rights Watch said that Sudanese forces and government-backed militias this month have attacked more than a dozen villages, targeting rebel forces.

The group said in a statement circulated at the UN headquarters that more than 40 civilians were killed in the operations. It stated that the dozens of civilian deaths show the UN-AU Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) lacks the capacity to protect villagers in the war-wracked region.

The UN said that the ongoing conflict in Darfur, which began in 2003 and has already claimed the lives of nearly 300,000 people, while more than two million have been displaced.

Meanwhile, the UN said it is working to boost the number of troops in the region in a move to quell the violence. The UN-AU Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), with capacity for 26,000 troops, police and civilian personnel has about 10,000 peacekeepers in the region. (NAN).