South Sudan says Sudan was wrong to threaten border closure

South Sudan said on Monday that Sudan was wrong to threaten to close their common border and that border and security issues between the two should be discussed through established mechanisms.

Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Mawien Makol told Xinhua in an interview that Khartoum was wrong to use threats of border closure over longstanding tit-for-tat accusations of supporting rebels between the two countries.

Sudan on Sunday threatened to close its border with South Sudan if Juba fails to expel Sudanese rebel groups from its soil, as agreed upon between the two countries, within 21 days.

Makol said there was a "forum", or security mechanism agreed upon in 2012, for the two to discuss these issues and that Sudan's move "will not help sort these issues."

South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 after more than two decades of civil war. Their relations had long been tense due to disputes over several issues, but South Sudan's First Vice President Taban Deng Gai's visit to Khartoum last month was then seen by some as marking the beginning of a thaw between the two.

"South Sudan wants to build on the basis of the first vice president's visit to Sudan that was very successful," Makol said.

During Gai's August visit, the two countries agreed to deny bases to rebel forces across their border, and signed several bilateral agreements on oil, mining and security.

South Sudan vowed not to harbour rebel groups based in Sudan's South Kordofan, Darfur and Blue Nile regions which border South Sudan.

Sudan opened its border with South Sudan in January 2016 for the first time since South Sudan's independence in 2011.

Oil-rich South Sudan has been relying on pipelines in Sudan to export its crude oil. The world's youngest nation has also been wracked by a civil war between its rival leaders that broke out in December 2013. Endit