The U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced on Monday that Tom Perriello for the role to advance efforts to end fighting, secure humanitarian aid and “support the Sudanese people as they seek to fulfill their aspirations for freedom, peace, and justice.”
“Special Envoy Perriello’s extensive experience with peace, security and transitional justice issues on the African continent and other parts of the world have established him as a leader in this critical work,” Blinken said in a statement.
He added, “As he takes on this important role, he’ll draw on his over two decades of experience working across the executive branch, the legislative branch, multilateral institutions and NGOs.”
Special envoys are the personal representatives of the secretary of state appointed to give sustained, high-level attention to particular regions or issues.
“Special Envoy Perriello will work to empower Sudanese civilian leaders and drive our engagement with partners in Africa, the Middle East and the international community to forge a united approach to stop this senseless conflict, prevent further atrocities and promote accountability for crimes already committed,” Blinken said.
This will be Perriello’s second stint as a special envoy in Africa, having served as special envoy to the Great Lakes Region of Africa, representative to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Burundi and Rwanda.
Perriello most recently served four years as executive director of Open Society Foundations, which supports civil society organizations around the world.
Fighting broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary in Sudan capital, Khartoum in April 2023, ostensibly over the integration of the paramilitary into the army.
The conflict has spiraled out of control in the past 10 months, displacing close to 8 million people.
