The United States on Saturday appointed the first ambassador to Sudan since 1996, elevating its diplomatic representation in the capital Khartoum from charge d'affaires, Sudanese news agency SUNA reports.

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Veteran Middle East diplomat John Godfrey will serve as the new US envoy.

Godfrey is currently acting coordinator for counterterrorism at the US State Department, as well as acting special envoy for the global coalition to defeat the Islamic State.

Previously, he was deputy head of mission at the US embassy in Riyadh and before that chief of staff to then deputy secretary of state Bill Burns, who is now director of the CIA. Godfrey also held positions at the US embassies in Iraq and Libya.

The US broke diplomatic ties with Sudan in 1996 over its support for Al-Qaida and other terrorist groups.

Following the ouster of then-Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, the US announced it would normalize relations with the African country and exchange ambassadors. Sudan sent an ambassador to Washington, but the Trump administration did not reciprocate.

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Sudan is reportedly disappointed with the outcome of its risky move to normalize ties with Israel amid insufficient US investment, according to an Israeli report released Wednesday.

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Many months have passed since Sudan became the fourth Arab state to sign an accord with Israel, yet Washington has failed to fulfill its promise to invest in agriculture and technology projects in Sudan, the Kan public broadcaster cited senior sources in Khartoum as saying.

There was considerable opposition to the move in Sudan at the time, and officials there believed significant investment in the African country would have helped alleviate public concerns.

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Former US President Donald Trump's removal of Sudan from a list of state sponsors of terrorism was a key component and catalyst in Khartoum joining the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco in formalizing ties with Israel.

Sudan was added to the list under the regime of former dictator Omar al-Bashir, who was ousted after 30 years of misrule in 2019. Biting US sanctions hampered the country's development, and the promise of better ties with Washington and the West had been expected to bear economic fruit.

This article was first published by i24NEWS.

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Speaking with Egypt's Alghad TV on Aug. 19, al-Mahdi, the head of Sudan's Umma Party, said that establishing relations with Israel would give Sudan access to Israeli and western technology, help remove Sudan from the list of countries that support terrorism and help Sudan out of its current economic crisis.

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In addition, al-Mahdi praised the United Arab Emirates and the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, for opening "new horizons" for peace in the Middle East.

He said that the combination of Arab money and Western innovation could be of great benefit to the Arabs, and that an alliance between Israel, Sudan, Egypt and the Gulf states could stand up to Iran and stop the spread of Islamic extremism.

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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