John T. Godfrey, is new U.S. Ambassador to Sudan  (Credit: Department of State)

By  Gary  Raynaldo    DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

U.S. Ambassador John T. Godfrey has concluded his tenure as the first American Ambassador to Sudan in a quarter century.  Former Ambassador Daniel Rubinstein has assumed charge. The US Senate confirmed Godfrey as Ambassador to Sudan in July 2022. Godfrey immediately stepped into a troubled Sudan ruled by the military where  thousands of anti-coup protesters swarmed the streets of the Sudanese capital Khartoum demanding an end to the non-civilian rule. In a Town Hall meeting last Thursday, Ambassador Godfrey thanked the Mission Sudan staff:

“I am deeply proud of the unflinching determination of Mission Sudan’s staff in supporting the safe evacuation of Americans and citizens of allied countries when fighting erupted, and in working from a number of locations since then to facilitate humanitarian assistance, engage the belligerents to protect civilians, secure ceasefires, document atrocities, and support the Sudanese people.  When this conflict ends, it is Sudan’s people who will make all the difference in the difficult task of rebuilding the country in a way that realizes their aspirations for freedom, peace, and justice.”   

Godfrey, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor,  was most recently  the Acting Counterterrorism Coordinator and the Acting Special Envoy to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS in the Counterterrorism Bureau of the U.S. Department of State. 

US Names Tom Perriello as New Special Envoy to Sudan in Bid to End War

Former diplomat and Congressman  Tom Perriello (D-VA)

The U.S. Department of State announced this week the appointment of Tom Perriello as U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan.

“In this role, Special Envoy Perriello will coordinate the U.S. policy on Sudan and advance our efforts to end the hostilities, secure unhindered humanitarian access, and support the Sudanese people as they seek to fulfill their aspirations for freedom, peace, and justice. “

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken

Perriello returns to the State Department,   having previously served as the Special Envoy for the Great Lakes and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Blinken said Ambassador Rubinstein will work closely with Special Envoy Perriello, as will the Sudan team in the Bureau of African Affairs.  On April 15, 2023, fighting broke out in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), an independent military force, and quickly spread across the country.  Sudan is in the midst of a horrific humanitarian crisis.  Some 12,000 Sudanese have been killed, eight million are displaced with  widespread hunger reported, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).  “Nearly one in three people in Sudan is acutely food insecure, while the already-fragile health system is in tatters, with looming disease outbreaks, including an alarming cholera outbreak, as well as dengue fever, measles and malaria,”  -OCHA. 

House Foreign Affairs Committee Members Blast Biden Administration for “Failed” Sudan Policy

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX), Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Jim Risch (R-ID), House Subcommittee on Africa Chairman John James (R-MI), and Senate Subcommittee on Africa Ranking Member Tim Scott (R-SC) released the following statement on the Biden administration’s temporary appointment of former Congressman Tom Perriello as special envoy for Sudan.

“The temporary appointment of a special envoy to Sudan, 10 months into the war, should not be viewed as a recognition by the Biden administration of the significance of this crisis. Instead, it demonstrates yet another failure in its response to the crisis. This war has significant consequences for innocent Sudanese and for the entire region. As such, Congress began calling for a special envoy who reports directly to the president on a bipartisan basis immediately after the war began. We regret that after all these months, the administration still failed to appoint a more permanent presidential envoy. While the department will argue it chose to avoid Senate confirmation due to the urgency of the situation, it sat on this decision as the interagency argued about resources, reporting lines, and how this position will be used. Sudan must be a higher priority for Secretary Blinken and President Biden. We hope this appointment will help force a reset of U.S. policy toward Sudan and the envoy will be provided the authority to lead this reset.”