Zambian officials say reports that President Levy Mwanawasa has died are false.

InformationMinister Mike Mulongoti made a televised address Thursday tosay the foreign media reports are not true. He said PresidentMwanawasa remains in stable condition in a Paris hospital, and is beingtreated for hypertension.

Zambia's President Levy Mwanawasa looks on during a news conference in Berlin (File photo)

Mr. Mwanawasa was flown to France Tuesday after suffering a stroke Sunday while in Egypt for an African Union summit.  

Thesummit was dominated by the political crisis in Zimbabwe, and theabsence of Mr. Mwanawasa, a critic of Zimbabwean President RobertMugabe, was said to hurt attempts to put more pressure on Harare.

Mr.Mwanawasa is 59 years old and has served as Zambia's president since2002. He is also the current leader of the Southern AfricanDevelopment Community.

He suffered a mild stroke two years ago.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.