Khartoum: Omar al-Bashir, Sudan's president, has said he will order the flow of oil from South Sudan to be cut off if it backs rebels in the insurgency-hit Sudanese states of South Kordofan and Darfur.
He said on Monday he would "completely close the pipeline" that carries oil from South Sudan to ports on Sudan's Red Sea coast.
"We warn the government in the South that if they provide any assistance to the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) or to the rebels in Darfur, we will completely close the pipeline," Bashir said.
"We will know if they stop the assistance, and we will know if they assist them."
Bashir was speaking at a ceremony after the army recaptured Abu Kershola town in the far north of oil-rich South Kordofan, which rebels seized a month ago.