South Sudan, Sudan gets new American ambassadors

JUBA – United States President Joe Biden has announced that he is dispatching new ambassadors to Sudan and South Sudan, according to a statement by the White House.

“Today, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate the following individuals for key diplomatic roles in his administration: Michael Adler, Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of South Sudan. John Godfrey, Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of the Sudan,” the statement dated January 26, 2022 said.

According to the White House statement, Amb. Michael Adler “is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor, with over three decades of experience.”

Most recently, he has served on the National Security Council (NSC) staff as the Deputy Senior Director for South Asia and before that, the Director for Afghanistan. Before joining the NSC staff, Adler served as the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs at the State Department.

He also held assignments in the State Department as Director of the Office of Afghanistan Affairs, Director of the Office of Near Eastern Affairs in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research, and in the Bureaus of Political Military Affairs and Near Eastern Affairs.

His overseas assignments have included service as Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassies in Lebanon and Kuwait, as Political Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan, and in Iraq, Bosnia and Herzegovina, France, and Qatar. Adler earned a Bachelor’s Degree from Pomona College and a Master’s Degree from Stanford University.

The statement also said John T. Godfrey, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor, is currently the Acting Counterterrorism Coordinator and the Acting Special Envoy to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS in the Counterterrorism Bureau at the U.S. Department of State.

Previously, he was the Principal Deputy Coordinator in the Counterterrorism Bureau and before that, the Bureau’s Deputy Coordinator for Regional and Multilateral Affairs.