South Sudan Presidency said the country’s President Salva Kiir Mayardit did not want to step down.

This comes after rumors circulated in Khartoum that President Kiir was planning to step down and that he conducted a series of meetings in Juba to choose his successor.

Speaking to reporters at the State House on Monday afternoon, South Sudan’s presidential spokesman, Ateny Wek Ateny, dismissed reports that President Kiir wants to step down.

He accused certain officials in Sudan whom he didn’t name of circulating unfounded reports in order to cause insecurity in South Sudan.

“There are people who want South Sudan to be declared as a failed state so that it can be reunited with Sudan. This will never happen while we are still alive,” he said.