KHARTOUM (Reuters) – Nearly 600 people died in rebel and tribal fighting in Sudan’s Darfur region in May, the bloodiest month that the territory has seen in more than two years, UN officials said yesterday.

Violence in the seven-year-old conflict has spiked since one of the main rebel groups, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), announced in early May it was freezing its participation in peace talks.

The death toll underlined the challenge facing mediators seeking to resolve a conflict that has continued in the face of pressure from Washington, war crimes prosecutions by the International Criminal Court and campaigning by activists.

“There were 491 confirmed deaths and 108 unconfirmed deaths,” said one official from Darfur’s joint UN/African Union UNAMID peacekeeping force, adding it was the largest death count recorded since the force was set up in January 2008.