The office of the president says it will sue the two Sudanese newspapers which published the alleged death of President Salva Kiir.

The Khartoum-based newspapers, Al Sudani and Akher-lahaza published the report on Friday.

Other media suggested that the health of the president was deteriorating. Presidential Press Secretary, Ateny Wek Ateny dismissed the claims.

He said such rumors are meant to divert the attention of South Sudanese and he called on them to focus on peace.

“There is no much evidence because in those newspapers, they have written it in their pages in bold,” Mr Ateny said.

“If the president was dead then they would have been right. We will study possibilities of going to Khartoum and open a case in the Khartoum courts.”

President Kiir is now in South Africa, attending the AU summit.

While leaving for the AU summit yesterday, President Kiir told SSTV’s Garang John that: “Do dead people board airplane on their own, walk or speak? I’m Ok. To those who said I was dead, I have resurrected and there is no problem.”