London  - Amnesty International Thursday accused the government of Sudan of holding the population of the troubled region of Darfur "hostage" by banning 10 aid agencies from working in the east African country.

"Millions of lives are at stake and this is no time to play political games. Aid agencies provide the bulk of the humanitarian aid required by more than two million vulnerable people," said Tawanda Hondora, Amnesty International's Africa Programme Deputy Director.

By expelling humanitarian agencies, the Sudanese government was effectively holding the entire civilian population of Darfur hostage, which Amnesty said was an "aggressive act that must be condemned in the strongest possible terms."

Amnesty urged the Sudanese government to reverse its decision because the "alternative is simply unthinkable."

Sudan was responsible under international law to ensure access to assistance for people in need and the arrest warrant issued against President Omar al-Bashir was "entirely irrelevant to the issue." (dpa)