KHARTOUM, Sudan — The UN refugee agency appealed yesterday for additional money to help millions displaced by the “continuing state of emergency” in Darfur as Sudanese, African and UN officials negotiate a peacekeeping deal for the troubled region.Despite a peace agreement signed last May between the Sudanese government and a single rebel group, fighting has only worsened in Darfur, a vast region of western Sudan where more than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million chased from their home since 2003.

“With constant fighting between government troops and rebels opposed to the (peace agreement), as well as regular attacks by Arab militia on African tribes, there is no prospect of return” for the millions of people living in camps, said the United Nation’s High Commissioner for Refugees in a statement appealing for funds yesterday.

“The appeal notes that the region is characterised by a continuing state of emergency,” UNCHR said.

Darfur is the world’s largest ongoing humanitarian effort, with some 15,000 aid workers, including 1,000 from abroad, according to the UN.

But 12 humanitarian workers have been killed in the past six months and several aid groups have warned they are reaching the “breaking point” because of increasing violence. A major French aid group announced earlier this week it was pulling out of Darfur, while several others say they may do the same if warring factions continue denying them access to civilians and targeting humanitarian workers.

But the UNHCR, which has over 100 staff working in most of Darfur’s refugee camps, said it had no intention of leaving the region. Its appeal yesterday for US$19.7 million would cover most of its costs for 2007 in Darfur, said Annette Rehrl, UNHCR’s spokeswoman for Sudan.

“We are determined to stay in Darfur; we provide the basic protection and if we go, everything goes,” Rehrl said by telephone.

Violence is spreading to the region, and the UNCHR says it helps more than 200,000 Darfur refugees in neighbouring Chad. Meanwhile, the agency says it also provides relief to 20,000 Chadians who recently fled attacks by Arab militias and now live in Darfur.

The UN and others accuse Sudan’s government of arming and directing the janjaweed militias of Arab nomads as part of its counterinsurgency tactics. The UNCHR said in its appeal Tuesday that Arab militias burnt to the ground at least 25 Chadian villages in recent weeks, and observers in Darfur blame the janjaweed for widespread atrocities against tribes of ethnic African farmers.

The government denies controlling the janjaweed, and in turn accuses Chad of backing the hardline rebel groups that refused a peace agreement.

Khartoum also denies accusations its air force indiscriminately targets civilians villages.

“We bomb the people who are sabotaging the peace agreement, or rebel factions who attack the army and civilians,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Ali Sadiq. The UN says a series of air raids earlier this month killed several villagers and breached cease-fire agreements.

On Monday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon met with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir during an African Union summit and urged him to “cease hostilities as an essential foundation for a successful peace process and humanitarian access” in Darfur.

Al-Bashir has fiercely opposed a Security Council resolution for some 22,000 UN peacekeepers to replace the 7,000-strong AU force deployed in Darfur, but his government appears to be edging toward a comprise deal for UN troops to join African ones in a common mission.

“We agreed to accelerate the joint UN-AU efforts for the political process and the preparation for a peacekeeping mission” Ban told reporters Monday after meeting with al-Bashir.

Ban said he sent a letter to the Sudanese president last week asking him for a firm and final commitment on the hybrid UN and AU force. “As soon as we receive a positive answer from the Sudanese government, I think we will be able to expedite this process more in an action-oriented way,” he told reporters according to a transcript issued by the UN.

Al-Bashir has sent mixed signals for months on the size of any UN presence he is willing to allow in Darfur. Sudanese newspapers yesterday quoted a key presidential adviser as saying that the nature of the hybrid force still had to be ironed out.

But Sadiq, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, said the guidelines for the new peacekeeping force were settled and only “technical details” remained to be discussed.