The United States has dispatched its first ambassador to Sudan in 25 years. On Wednesday, Ambassador John Godfrey arrived in Khartoum, the nation’s capital. He tweeted that he was excited to be there and that he was looking forward to assisting the Sudanese people as they made the transition to democracy. This comes 2 years after the U.S. removed Sudan from its list of nations supporting terrorism.
Relations between the United States and Sudan were fractured during the three-decade rule of former President Omar al-Bashir.
Sudan was allegedly supporting Al-Qaeda, whose founder Osama bin Laden resided in Sudan from 1992 to 1996, and as a result, Sudan was placed on the list of nations that fund terrorism in 1993. The US imposed economic penalties and demoted its mission in Sudan from ambassador to charge d’affaires in 1997. In 2019, the US made preparations to improve its representation, and an ambassador was appointed the following year.
