Russia supports Juba elections, peace monitors push inclusive process

South Sudan President Salva Kiir.

South Sudan President Salva Kiir.

Photo credit: File | AFP

Russia has backed South Sudan’s plan to hold elections this year, even as peace monitors warn that doing so without a broad consensus risks plunging the country into instability.

On Tuesday, Russian Ambassador to South Sudan Aleksandr Kosmodemyansky confirmed that South Sudanese electoral officials will undergo training in Moscow. He spoke after meeting the Presidential Affairs Minister, Africao Mande Gedima, to review bilateral relations.