Biden Nominates 1st US Ambassador to Sudan in Decades

U.S. President Joe Biden intends to nominate John Godfrey as the new US ambassador to Sudan, the White House announced on Wednesday.

Godfrey is currently serving as the acting special envoy to counter ISIS. He also serves as Biden’s acting counter-terrorism co-ordinator at the State Department.

In addition, the diplomat has served as the deputy chief of mission and political counsellor at the US embassy in Saudi Arabia. He has also served at the US embassies in Iraq, Syria and Libya.

On Tuesday, US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Molly Phee lambasted the Sudanese military leaders, accusing them of backtracking on the commitments they made during her visit to the country last week.

“They publicly committed to dialogue to resolve the current crisis,” she wrote after Sudanese security forces arrested women’s rights activist Amira Osman.

“Yet their actions — more violence against protesters, detention of civil society activists — tell a different story and will have consequences.”