US President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced that he intends to nominate John Godfrey, who currently serves as the acting special envoy to counter ISIS, as the new US ambassador to Sudan.
Mr Godfrey also serves as the president’s acting counter-terrorism co-ordinator at the State Department.
A career diplomat, Mr Godfrey has also 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.
His nomination to serve as Mr Biden’s ambassador in Khartoum comes as US officials continue to threaten unspecified penalties on Sudanese military leaders for their crackdown on anti-coup protesters.
US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Molly Phee lambasted the Sudanese military leaders on Tuesday, 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.”
The US has said it would not restore $700 million in Sudanese aid that was paused after last year’s coup until the military takes steps to transition to a civilian-led government.
