Sudan appoints first US ambassador in decades

Veteran diplomat Noureldin Sati has been appointed Sudan's ambassador to the US.

"The approval comes as part of normalising US and Sudanese diplomatic relations after being at the level of chargé d'affaires for over two decades," the state news agency Suna said quoting Sudan's foreign ministry.

Ties between Khartoum and Washington had been strained during Omar al-Bashir's three decades in power, but improved after he was ousted in April 2019.

The US closed its embassy in Khartoum in 1996, accusing Sudan of sponsoring terrorism. It reopened in 2002.

For almost 24 years both countries had appointed only chargés d’affaires at their embassies in Washington and Khartoum.

Sudan's Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok visited Washington last December and the two countries agreed to exchange ambassadors.

Mr Sati served as Sudan's ambassador to France in the 1990s. He later worked with the UN peacekeeping missions in Congo and Rwanda.