MOSCOW, November 11. /TASS/. South Sudan may strengthen its defense capabilities through cooperation with Russia, the country’s Ambassador to Moscow Chol Tong Mayay Jang said in an interview with TASS.
According to him, there are plans to train South Sudanese troops in Russia. There are also "things to do with some military hardware," the envoy said, commenting on the agreements that had been reached at a meeting between the two countries’ defense ministers in late September. They "agreed on certain concrete steps to deepen cooperation," the envoy added.
He noted that during the 1983 civil war in Sudan, South Sudanese forces "got support from Ethiopia, and Ethiopia was supported by the Soviet Union." "We were using the Soviet Union hardware and the Soviet Union training," Chol Tong Mayay Jang stressed.
He went on to say that the South Sudanese defense minister had highlighted the positive experience of cooperation during his visit to Moscow.
"So it is not totally new to us. It is something which we have used. So that's why it is important to keep using Russian hardware and military training," the diplomat concluded.