An official in the ministry of Foreign Affairs has denied media reports that South Sudanese rebel leader Riek Machar was in Mogadishu seeking asylum.
Speaking to Radio Dalsan the official who asked for anonymity termed the reports as a “hoax”.
On Thursday several Somalia news outlets had reported that the dissident former South Sudan Vice President had been sighted at the Aden Abdulle International Airport Mogadishu accompanied by his wife and family.
Riek Machar who controls a section of the SPLA has been out of South Sudan for weeks nows following fresh fighting with the faction led by President Salva Kiir.
Machar was this week denied entrance into Ethiopia.
He is reported to have flown to South Africa to seek assylum.
Regional leaders have twice failed to use diplomatic means to resolve the South Sudan crisis that has left hundreds dead since December 2015
