Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir accused South Sudan on Thursday of "choosing the path of war," following days of intensifying clashes on their shared border

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir accused South Sudan on Thursday of "choosing the path of war," following days of intensifying clashes on their shared border.
  
"Our brothers in South Sudan have chosen the path of war, implementing plans dictated by foreign parties who supported them during the civil war," Bashir told reporters, referring to decades of conflict before the South's independence last year.
  
"War is not in the interest of either South Sudan or Sudan but, unfortunately, our brothers in the South are thinking neither of the interests of Sudan or of South Sudan," he added.
  
Three days of heavy fighting between rival armies this week, the worst since South Sudan’s independence in July after one of Africa's longest civil wars, have brought the two former foes the closest to a return to outright war.
  
The violence has prompted Khartoum to pull out of African Union-led crisis talks aimed at resolving a protracted dispute with Juba over oil, border demarcation, contested areas and citizenship.

The European Union called on Sudan and South Sudan to cease hostilities on Thursday as it condemned Sudanese aerial bombings and the occupation of a contested area by South Sudanese forces.
  
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton "is deeply concerned at the escalating armed conflict on the border between Sudan and South Sudan," her office said in a statement. "The move by the South Sudanese armed forces to occupy Heglig is completely unacceptable. So is continued aerial bombardment of South Sudanese territory by the Sudan Armed Forces," it said.
  
South Sudan's President Salva Kiir rejected international calls to pull out troops from the contested Heglig area, but said he did not want war with Khartoum.

Ashton "calls on both parties to cease hostilities, withdraw forces immediately back within their own borders and respect each other's territorial integrity" in line with a February 10 non-aggression pact, her office said.