By Spy Uganda
The government of Sudan has appointed the first country’s ambassador to the United States of America after over 20 years,
In what many regard as a change of relations between the two states, Khartoum says Washington approved Noureldin Satti as its ambassador to the US.
It should be recalled that following Sudan Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok’s visit to Washington in December last year, the two countries said they would exchange ambassadors
Sources reveal that authorities in both countries had agreed to improve ties following the fall of longtime President Omar al-Bashir, who was overthrown by the military in April last year in the wake of mass protests seeking civilian rule.
The foreign ministry of Sudan’s transitional government said on Monday it had chosen Nureldin Satti, a veteran diplomat, as ambassador in Washington, DC, and that US authorities had approved his nomination.
Satti served as Sudan’s ambassador to France in the 1990s and later worked with United Nations peacekeeping missions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda.
However, a Department of State representative declined to provide any insight on plans to appoint a US ambassador to Sudan, saying there was no specific information on the timing but that the decision late last year to exchange ambassadors was “a historic step”.
In December, following a visit by Sudanese Premier Hamdok to Washington, DC, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the two countries would exchange ambassadors again after a 23-year absence.
The US diplomat would be nominated by President Donald Trump and needs to be confirmed by the country’s Senate.
Both countries had for almost a quarter of a century appointed only charges d’affaires, a diplomatic rank that heads an embassy in the absence of an official ambassador, to run their missions in Washington and Khartoum respectively.
Relations between the two countries became bitter after the US government added Sudan to its list of state sponsors of “terrorism” in 1993, over allegations that al-Bashir’s government was supporting armed groups, leaving Sudan ineligible for badly needed debt relief and financing from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
Following Bashir’s overthrow, Sudan is currently ruled by a transitional administration that took power in August last year.
Hamdok’s government has sought to bolster its international standing and mend ties with the US, with their main being Sudan being’s removal from the US blacklist.
In February, Khartoum agreed to compensate the families of US sailors killed in an al-Qaeda attack on US Navy destroyer USS Cole in Yemen’s Aden harbour in 2000.
Compensation for the victims of terrorism remains a priority for the US government. The United States and Sudan continue to engage regarding certain terrorism-related claims.
The US had for years accused Sudan of training and supporting the attackers.
However, although Sudan repeatedly denied the charges, they agreed to the settlement in a bid to be deleted from Washington’s “terrorism” blacklist, which has dogged them for decades and will continue to do so unless the US government decides otherwise.
