JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — Sudan’s threat to shut down South Sudan’s oil exports over its alleged support for rebels in Sudan will not spark a return to armed hostility as long as Sudan respects a security agreement reached earlier this year, a South Sudanese military official said Monday.

South Sudanese army spokesman Col. Philip Aguer said, however, that any violations of an African Union-mediated pact signed in March would be taken as an act of provocation.