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EMBASSY/CONSULATE ADDRESSES

Diplomatic Representation in US:
Ambassador: Vacant (John Ukec Lueth, Charge d'Affaires)
Embassy: 2210 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008
Telephone: [1] (202) 338-8565 through 8570
Fax: [1] (202) 667-2406

US Diplomatic Representation:
Chief of Mission: Charge d'Affaires Alberto FERNANDEZ
Embassy: Sharia Abdul Latif Avenue, Khartoum
Mailing Address: P. O. Box 699, Khartoum; APO AE 09829
Telephone: 249-11-774-700; 774-704
Fax: [254] (2) 743-204


FOREIGN RELATIONS

Solidarity with other Arab countries has been a feature of Sudan’s foreign policy. When the Arab-Israeli war began in June 1967, Sudan declared war on Israel. However, in the early 1970s, Sudan gradually shifted its stance and was supportive of the Camp David Accords.

Relations between Sudan and Libya deteriorated in the early 1970s and reached a low in October 1981, when Libya began a policy of cross-border raids into western Sudan. After the 1985 coup in Sudan, the military government resumed diplomatic relations with Libya, as part of a policy of improving relations with neighboring and Arab states. In early 1990, Libya and the Sudan announced that they would seek "unity," but this unity was not implemented.

During the 1990s, as Sudan sought to steer a nonaligned course, courting Western aid and seeking rapprochement with Arab states, its relations with the U.S. grew increasingly strained. Sudan’s ties with countries like North Korea and Libya and its support for regional insurgencies such as Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Eritrean Islamic Jihad, Ethiopian Islamic Jihad, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Lord’s Resistance Army generated great concern about its contribution to regional instability. Allegations of the government’s complicity in the assassination attempt against the Egyptian President in Ethiopia in 1995 led to UNSC sanctions against the Sudan. By the late 1990s, Sudan experienced strained or broken diplomatic relations with most of its nine neighboring countries. However, since 2000, Sudan has actively sought regional rapprochement that has rehabilitated most of these relations.

U.S.-SUDANESE RELATIONS
Sudan broke diplomatic relations with the U.S. in June 1967, following the outbreak of the Arab-Israeli War. Relations improved after July 1971, when the Sudanese Communist Party attempted to overthrow President Nimeiri, and Nimeiri suspected Soviet involvement. U.S. assistance for resettlement of refugees following the 1972 peace settlement with the south added further improved relations.

On March 1, 1973, Palestinian terrorists of the "Black September" organization murdered U.S. Ambassador Cleo A. Noel and Deputy Chief of Mission Curtis G. Moore in Khartoum. Sudanese officials arrested the terrorists and tried them on murder charges. In June 1974, however, they were released to the custody of the Egyptian Government. The U.S. Ambassador to the Sudan was withdrawn in protest. Although the U.S. Ambassador returned to Khartoum in November, relations with the Sudan remained static until early 1976, when President Nimeiri mediated the release of 10 American hostages being held by Eritrean insurgents in rebel strongholds in northern Ethiopia. In 1976, the U.S. decided to resume economic assistance to Sudan.

In late 1985, there was a reduction in staff at the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum because of the presence in Khartoum of a large contingent of Libyan terrorists. In April 1986, relations with Sudan deteriorated when the U.S. bombed Tripoli, Libya. A U.S. Embassy employee was shot on April 16, 1986. Immediately following this incident, all non-essential personnel and all dependents left for 6 months. At this time, Sudan was the single largest recipient of U.S. development and military assistance in sub-Saharan Africa. However, official U.S. development assistance was suspended in 1989 in the wake of the military coup against the elected government, which brought to power the National Islamist Front led by General Bashir.

U.S. relations with Sudan were further strained in the 1990s. Sudan backed Iraq in its invasion of Kuwait and provided sanctuary and assistance to Islamic terrorist groups. In the early and mid-1990s, Carlos the Jackal, Osama bin Laden, Abu Nidal, and other terrorist leaders resided in Khartoum. Sudan’s role in the radical Pan-Arab Islamic Conference represented a matter of great concern to the security of American officials and dependents in Khartoum, resulting in several draw downs and/or evacuations of U.S. personnel from Khartoum in the early-mid 1990s. Sudan’s Islamist links with international terrorist organizations represented a special matter of concern for the U.S. Government, leading to Sudan's 1993 designation as a state sponsor of terrorism and a suspension of U.S. Embassy operations in Khartoum in 1996. In October 1997, the U.S. imposed comprehensive economic, trade, and financial sanctions against the Sudan. In August 1998, in the wake of the East Africa embassy bombings, the U.S. launched cruise missile strikes against Khartoum. The last U.S. Ambassador to the Sudan, Ambassador Tim Carney, departed post prior to this event and no new ambassador has been designated since. The U.S. Embassy is headed by a Charge d’Affaires. The Embassy continues to re-evaluate its posture in Sudan, particularly in the wake of the January 1, 2008, killings of a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) employee and his Sudanese driver in Khartoum.

The U.S. and Sudan entered into a bilateral dialogue on counterterrorism in May 2000. Sudan has provided concrete cooperation against international terrorism since the September 11, 2001, terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. However, although Sudan publicly supported the international coalition actions against the al Qaida network and the Taliban in Afghanistan, the government criticized the U.S. strikes in that country and opposed a widening of the effort against international terrorism to other countries. Sudan remains on the state sponsors of terrorism list.

In response to the Government of Sudan’s continued complicity in unabated violence occurring in Darfur, President Bush imposed new economic sanctions on Sudan in May 2007. The sanctions blocked assets of Sudanese citizens implicated in Darfur violence, and also sanctioned additional companies owned or controlled by the Government of Sudan. Sanctions continue to underscore U.S. efforts to end the suffering of the millions of Sudanese affected by the crisis in Darfur.

Despite policy differences the U.S. has been a major donor of humanitarian aid to the Sudan throughout the last quarter-century. The U.S. was a major donor in the March 1989 "Operation Lifeline Sudan," which delivered 100,000 metric tons of food into both government and SPLA-held areas of the Sudan, thus averting widespread starvation. In 1991, the U.S. made major donations to alleviate food shortages caused by a 2-year drought. In a similar drought in 2000-2001, the U.S. and the international community responded to avert mass starvation in the Sudan. In 2001 the Bush administration named a presidential envoy for peace in the Sudan to explore what role the U.S. could play in ending Sudan's civil war and enhancing the delivery of humanitarian aid. Andrew Natsios and subsequently Ambassador Richard Williamson served as presidential envoys to Sudan during the Bush administration. On March 18, 2009 President Obama announced the appointment of J. Scott Gration as the U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan.

On October 19, 2009, Secretary Clinton, accompanied by Special Envoy Gration and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice, announced the Obama administration’s new Sudan strategy. U.S. strategy in Sudan is comprised of three core principles: 1) Achieving a definitive end to conflict, gross human rights abuses, and genocide in Darfur; 2) Implementation of the North-South Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that results in a peaceful post-2011 Sudan, or an orderly path toward two separate and viable states at peace with each other; and 3) Ensuring that Sudan does not provide a safe haven for international terrorists.

In March 2011, Princeton N. Lyman was appointed U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan.

DEFENSE
The Sudan People’s Armed Forces is a 100,000-member army supported by a small air force and navy. Irregular tribal and former rebel militias and Popular Defense Forces supplement the army’s strength in the field. This is a mixed force, having the additional duty of maintaining internal security. During the 1990s, periodic purges of the professional officer corps by the ruling Islamist regime eroded command authority as well as war-fighting capabilities. Indeed, the Sudanese Government admitted it was incapable of carrying out its war aims against the SPLA without employing former rebel and Arab militias to fight in support of regular troops. Additionally, as mandated in the CPA, the Southern Sudanese maintain their own armed forces in the form of the SPLA.

Sudan’s military forces historically have been hampered by limited and outdated equipment. In the 1980s, the U.S. worked with the Sudanese Government to upgrade equipment with special emphasis on airlift capacity and logistics. All U.S. military assistance was terminated following the military coup of 1989. Oil revenues have allowed the government to purchase modern weapons systems, including Hind helicopter gunships, Antonov medium bombers, MiG 23 fighter aircraft, mobile artillery pieces, and light assault weapons. Sudan now receives most of its military equipment from China, Russia, and Libya.

The Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) in southern Sudan is currently in the process of transformation from a guerrilla force to a professional military organization.

Principal U.S. Officials
Ambassador--vacant
Charge d'Affaires--Robert E. Whitehead
Deputy Chief of Mission--Mark Asquino
USAID Director--Bill Hammink
Political-Economic Chief--Helen C. Hudson
Public Affairs Officer--Judith Ravin

The U.S. Embassy in Sudan is located at Shari'a Ali Abdul Latif, P.O. Box 699, Khartoum (tel. 249-11-774-700; 774-704). Hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday.


TRAVEL ADVISORIES

To obtain the latest Travel Advisory Information for Sudan check the U.S. State Department Consular Information Sheet.


TRAVEL TIPS

Driving TBA
Currency (SDD) Sudanese Dinar
Electrical 230 Volts
Telephones Country Code 249, City Code Khartoum 1+8D, Atbara 211+6D, Karima 231+6D



AIR: Sudan Airways (SD) runs services to 20 airports, including Dongola, Juba, Port Sudan and El Obeid. The most reliable route is Port Sudan to Khartoum. There is also an air-taxi service operating twice-weekly to Nyala, available from Khartoum.

Departure tax: sD600.

RIVER: River steamers serve all towns on the Nile but conditions are mostly unsuitable for tourist travel. Services depend on fluctuating water levels. It is wise to take food and water. Destinations include Dongola, Karima, Kosti and Juba. A 320km (200-mile) navigable canal, the Jonglei, is under construction in the south.

RAIL: Sudan has an extensive rail network (5500km/3418 miles) but the service is in bad repair, extremely slow and uncomfortable. Travelling first class is advisable; second- and third-class compartments can get very crowded. Sleeping cars are available on main routes from Khartoum to Wau/Nyala, Khartoum to Kassala/Wadi Halfa and Port Sudan to Khartoum. There are a few air-conditioned carriages, for which a supplement is charged.

ROAD: Only major roads are asphalted; road conditions are poor outside towns, roads to the north are often closed during the rainy season (July to September) and street lights are non existent. Owing to the bad conditions, a full set of spare parts should be carried for long journeys. Vehicles must be in good working condition. Traffic drives on the right. Bus: Services run between the main towns and depart from the market places; however they are not entirely safe. Souk (market) lorries are a cheap but uncomfortable method of transport. Taxi: Also often unsafe, taxis can be found at ranks or hailed in the street. Taxis are not metered, fares must be agreed in advance. Car hire: Available in the main towns and at major hotels but charges are high. Documentation: Carnet de Passage, adequate finance and roadworthiness certificate (from the Embassy) are all needed. An International Driving Permit is recommended, although not legally required. A temporary driving licence is available from local police on presentation of a valid British or Northern Ireland driving licence. Women are allowed to drive in Sudan.

URBAN: Publicly operated bus services in Khartoum have of late become unreliable and irregular which has led to the proliferation of private bakassi minibuses, nicknamed boks. They pick up and set down with no fixed stops. These operations are on the fringes of legality and should be used with care.


CUSTOMS/DUTIES

Tobacco............................200 cigarettes or 50 cigars or 225g of tobacco

Liquor................................prohibited

Perfume............................reasonable for personal use

Cameras...........................no restrictions

Film...................................reasonable for personal use

Gifts..................................reasonable amount

Currency...........................must be declared on arrival

Prohibited items: ...............the import of goods from israel is prohibited. sudan also adheres to the list of prohibited goods drawn up by the arab league and these include alcoholic beverages. fresh fruit and vegetables may not be imported.



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