Video: Rare US Navy visit to Port Sudan
Rapid transport ship, the USNS Carson City, has docked at Port Sudan harbour on Wednesday, “to enhance maritime security in the region”.
For the first time in decades, a US Navy ship has docked in Port Sudan, reports Dryad Global. The USNS Carson City is a rapid transport vessel and the ship’s arrival signals a thaw in post-embargo Sudan-US relations.
In a statement via social media on Wednesday, the US Embassy in Khartoum said: “Today, the Military Sealift Command expeditionary fast transport ship USNS Carson City arrived in Port Sudan, Sudan. This is the first US Navy ship to visit Sudan in decades and highlights the willingness of the United States Armed Forces to strengthen their renewed partnership with the Sudanese Armed Forces.”
After the twin-hull vessel docked at the port’s northeast quay, Capt. Frank Okata, commodore, Military Sealift Command Europe and Africa, and Commander, Task Force 63 was piped ashore. “We are honoured to work with our Sudanese partners in the enhancement of maritime security” Capt. Okata said.
Sudan was removed from the State Sponsors of Terrorism List (SST) in the dying days of the Trump administration on the condition that she pay compensation to the victims of terrorism. The money will be used to compensate the families of the victims of the bombing of the destroyer USS Cole in Yemen in 2000 and the 1998 bombing of the US embassies in Dar El Salaam in Tanzania and Nairobi in Kenya.
