In his most important intervention on Africa policy since his inauguration, President Barack Obama of the United States has condemned Sudan's expulsion of international aid agencies from Darfur.

Speaking Tuesday night after an Oval Office meeting with Ban Ki-Moon, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Obama characterized the Sudanese response to the International Criminal Court's indictment of President Omar al-Bashir on war crimes charges as one of having "kicked out some of the most important non-governmental organizations that provide direct humanitarian aid to millions of people who've been internally displaced…"

This had created "a potential crisis of even greater dimensions" than was previously the case in Sudan, Obama added. He said he had impressed upon Ban the importance of sending "a strong, unified, international message that it is not acceptable to put that many people's lives at risk; that we need to be able to get those humanitarian organizations back on the ground; and that the United States wants to work as actively as possible with the UN to try to resolve the immediate humanitarian crisis and to start putting us on a path for long-term peace and stability in the Sudan."

Obama was speaking after coming under criticism for his administration's failure to make any significant pronouncements on Africa so far. In recent days, members of Congress have called on him to act quickly to appoint a high-profile special envoy to focus on the crisis in Sudan.

Last week Obama extended the sanctions imposed by his predecessor, George W. Bush, on Zimbabwean leaders whom the United States accuses of undermining democracy in the country. But he gave a higher profile to his remarks on Darfur by making them to White House correspondents after an Oval Office meeting.