US President Barack Obama has urged the leaders of Sudan and South Sudan to stop the fighting between their countries and begin negotiations to settle their disputes. Obama's comments came a day after Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir said his troops had defeated South Sudanese forces who occupied his country's main oilfield, but added that the battle was not over. Bashir dismissed a statement by his southern counterpart Salva Kiir that the troops which had invaded Heglig had begun withdrawing. Bashir also threatened to keep Sudan's oil pipelines closed to the South's crude exports.

South Sudan, which gained independence last July after voting in a referendum to secede from Sudan, claims it occupied Heglig after it was attacked by the Sudanese army. It had ignored calls by the international community to pull its troops out, saying it was defending its territorial integrity. A ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague in 2009 put Heglig in the Sudan state of Southern Kordofan, which the South now disputes. The Arab League has said it would hold an emergency meeting over the renewed violence between the two countries.