Washington's first ambassador to Khartoum in 25 years

Ambassador John Godfrey.

archival

The United States Embassy in Khartoum announced on Wednesday that Washington's first ambassador to the country in nearly a quarter of a century has received his post.

"Ambassador John Godfrey arrived in Khartoum today to be the first US ambassador to Sudan in nearly 25 years," the embassy said in a written statement.

She added that the ambassador will "strengthen relations between the American and Sudanese peoples and support their aspirations for freedom, peace, justice and democratic transition."

In 1997, Washington reduced its diplomatic representation in Khartoum to the Chargé d'Affairs and imposed unilateral economic sanctions on Khartoum, accusing it of "supporting terrorism", which contributed to deepening the country's economic crisis.

This came to Washington accusing the regime of Hassan al-Bashir, who was overthrown by the army in 2019 after he ruled the country for three decades, with his ties to al-Qaeda, whose founder Osama bin Laden resided in Sudan from 1992 to 1996.

The United States has placed Sudan on the list of "state sponsors of terrorism" since 1993 until it was removed from it in December 2020.

In December 2019, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced during the visit of former Sudanese Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok to the United States that his country would raise its diplomatic representation with Khartoum to the level of ambassador.

Hamdok was the first Sudanese official to welcome him to Washington in several years.

In May 2020, Khartoum appointed Noureddin Sati its first ambassador to Washington in twenty-three years.

But Sati resigned in October 2021 over the civilian transitional government of Abdallah Hamdok, which took power after the overthrow of Bashir.

And last July, Washington accepted the accreditation of Muhammad Abdullah as the ambassador of Khartoum to it.

Follow our latest local and sports news and the latest political and economic developments via Google news