Johannesburg - A group of human rights groups on Wednesday warned that "millions" of people would die of hunger and disease in the Sudanese province of Darfur unless the government of war-crimes-accused President Omar al-Bashir allowed aid agencies to operate.

The government shut out 13 international and three local aid agencies on March 4 after the International Criminal Court issued an international warrant for al-Bashir's arrest for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.

"The Sudanese government authorities must stop punishing its own people in retaliation against the warrant of arrest," Amnesty International and a group of other mostly Nigerian and Kenyan rights groups demanded in a joint statement.

"Civilians now face the bleak prospect of dying from thirst, hunger and disease," they warned.

The statement quoted a United Nations estimate, which forecast some 4.7 million people would be affected by the clampdown on relief work.

In the absence of government aid, the aid agencies targeted have been providing water, food, shelter and medicines to the people of Darfur.

The group also expressed alarm at reports that the government of Sudan intends to expel all aid organizations within one year and urged the African Union to put pressure on al-Bashir to refrain from such a move.

The conflict in Darfur began in 2003 when mainly non-Arab tribesmen took up arms against what they called decades of neglect and discrimination by the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum.

The United Nations says up to 300,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced by the conflict. The Sudanese government claims around 10,000 have died.(dpa)