Sudan not in a "hurry" to issue statement on new US envoy

Meanwhile, Sudan's External Relations Minister Mustafa Uthman Ismail said his government was not in a hurry to issue a decision or statement on the recent appointment of US envoy to Sudan Harry Johnston. Sudan "would monitor his movements and watch what happened in the corridors of the Congress and the American administration and would only then take appropriate measures in line with its national interests," Sudanese television reported on Sunday. It quoted Ismail as saying Sudan was neither part nor party to the selection of the envoy. The way the envoy was chosen and the way his aims and functions were defined were "unjust and incompatible" with the spirit and content of the UN Charter on relations between states, he added. Johnston, former chairman of the US Committee for Refugees (USCR)/Immigration and Refugee Services of America (IRSA) was on Friday selected for the envoy post. "Johnston's knowledge of, and sensitivity for, the complexities of the situation in Sudan makes him one of the leading experts on this volatile region and he will be an extraordinary asset to the State Department," the Director of IRSA/USCR Roger Winter said in a statement.