Nominee for US Ambassador to Sudan John Godfrey said that resuming paused development assistance to the African country is predicated on a credible civilian-led democratic transition.
His remarks were made on Tuesday during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing session to ratify his appointment.
Godfrey said the United States “remains poised to use all tools at its disposal to support the Sudanese people in their pursuit of a democratic, human rights-respecting, and prosperous Sudan.”
In response to a question by Democratic Senator Chris Coons, who introduced a draft resolution imposing sanctions on any military officials found responsible for obstructing Sudan’s democratic transition, Godfrey did not rule out the possibility of imposing such sanctions.
“Sanctions are an important tool to drive changes and behavior,” Godfrey stressed.
“Prior to making any recommendation on potential sanctions, I would want to understand their likely impact on the military leaders’ behavior, the practical impact on their access to financing, the impact on the economy and how it would relate to our overall diplomatic strategy, including the current UNITAMS-AU-IGAD facilitated process,” he explained.
Godfrey referred to the Departments of State, Treasury, Commerce, and Labor’s recently released business advisory on Sudan, as well as the concurrent resolution 20 calling for targeted sanctions on the military coup, which the Congress adopted earlier this month.
He said they show the unified view across branches of US government that it needs to be applying pressure and sustaining the pressure on the military government to facilitate things that lead to the restoration of the civilian-led transitional government.
If he is confirmed, Godfrey said he will certainly work with partners to sustain that pressure.
“I think what we’ve done in coordinating the pauses and debt relief credit and some development assistance are really important in that regard and need to be sustained.”
He also considered sanctioning of the Central Reserve Police and looking at potential other actions is something that the US needs to stay focused on top move forward.
