(VOVworld) – Sudan has warned it could shut its border with South Sudan just weeks after reopening crossings, accusing Juba of backing insurgents battling Khartoum.

Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir (Photo: AP)

A senior aide to the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, Ibrahim Mahmoud, on Thursday said if the government of South Sudan does not stop supporting the insurgents, they might take measures to protect the security of their country and even close the border again. The comments came ahead of an AU-mediated meeting in Addis Ababa between Sudanese officials and rebels from South Kordofan, Blue Nile and the western Darfur regions to discuss the conflict in Sudan's border regions. Mahmoud said Khartoum could also withdraw the special status accorded to nearly 200,000 South Sudanese who have taken shelter from their country's civil war in Sudan since December 2013. Those people would be considered to have the status of foreigners when using social services and would require visas and passports to enter Sudan.