The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation has dismissed wild rumours alleging South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir Mayardit is dead.
The rumour went viral after a social media post by Alinur Mohamed, a Kenyan, claimed Kiir was dead.
“BREAKING: I hear President Salva Kirr of South Sudan has kicked the bucket. Let’s wait for official communication,” Alinur shared on his Facebook page, as quoted here verbatim.
President Kiir held meetings on Wednesday with the Vice President for Service Cluster, Josephine Joseph Lagu and the four newly appointed ambassadors to Kenya, China, Qatar and Ghana.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs says the rumours are baseless and being spread by what they term as “enemies of peace.” The ministry says the president is discharging his duties “with vigour, commitment, sound health and complete fitness.”
“These are entirely baseless and irresponsible rumours fabricated by enemies of peace, development, nation building and stability in South Sudan,” the social media statement of the ministry partly reads.
The foreign ministry warns citizens of spreading “unverified information”, which it says may instil confusion, panic and “instability.”
Fighting between the South Sudan People's Defense Forces (SSPDF) and SPLA-IO spread to some parts of Upper Nile and other states after Nasir was captured by the White Army. The resistance against the deployment of SSPDF forces in Nasir later resulted in the killing of an SSPDF commander, a UN peacekeeper and 28 other soldiers after a promise of safe evacuation by the First Vice President Riek Machar and the chair of SPLM/A-IO.
The UN said the helicopter attack and related killings by the White Army could amount to war crimes and asked parties to the conflict to respect international law.
Several SPLM/A-IO leaders, including their chairman and commander-in-chief, Riek Machar, are arrested and detained pending investigations.
The international community has called for the release of the SPLM/A-IO officials several times, but the government maintains that the arrested and detained SPLM/A-IO leaders must first go through the legal process.
The government claims it has evidence linking the arrested and detained SPLM/A-IO officials to the killings in Nasir and the violence that is continuing in some parts of the country.
