Washington  - US President Barack Obama and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon held discussions on the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region and other global issues during their White House meeting Tuesday.

The two men addressed the war in Afghanistan, the worldwide economic crisis and climate change, but the largest focus of the meeting was Darfur.

It was Ban's first meeting with the new president since Obama took office in January.

"The United States wants to work as actively as possible to try to resolve the immediate humanitarian crisis and to start putting us on the path for long-term peace and stability in the Sudan," Obama said.

There are heightened worries that the humanitarian situation in Darfur could worsen following the expulsions of aid groups last week by the government in Khartoum. The move was apparent retaliation for a decision by a UN court to issue an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on war crimes charges.

Five years of fighting between government-backed militias and rebels in Darfur has left an estimated 300,000 people dead and more than 1 million displaced.

During the US election campaign, Obama pledged to get tough with the Sudanese government. The United States is reviewing a possible strategy for Darfur, the State Department said Tuesday.

Obama and Ban discussed how the economic crisis is affecting the world's poorest nations and how to better coordinate the international effort in Afghanistan.

"I think the year 2009 is a make or break year," Ban said of the many challenges facing the international body and Washington. (dpa)