New US ambassador to S. Sudan arrives in Juba

July 21, 2015 (JUBA) – The newly-designated United States ambassador to South Sudan has arrived in the world’s youngest nation, the embassy announced Tuesday.

“Ambassador Phee is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counsellor. She most recently served as Chief of Staff to the U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan and South Sudan,” the embassy in Juba shared on social media Tuesday.

Phee replaced Susan Page, the first US envoy to South Sudan, who left the new nation in 2014. The embassy was opened immediately after South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in July 2011.

The US brokered over two decades of the north-south Sudan civil war in 2005 agreement, which included a self-determination referendum on resulting in the overwhelming vote for separation in January 2011.

The experienced US diplomat takes over at a time when the young nation is grappling with nearly 20 months of a violent conflict, which has killed thousands and displaced an estimated two million people.

Phee, the US embassy said, completed a three-year assignment as deputy chief of mission at the US embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 2014, having served as director for Iraq at the National Security Council from 2009 to 2011, “where she was responsible for coordinating the US transition from military to civilian operations culminating in the withdrawal of US combat troops in December 2011.”

From 2005 to 2008, she served as counsellor for political affairs and deputy Security Council coordinator at the US mission to the United Nations, advancing US policies on Afghanistan, Arab-Israeli peace process, Burma, Iraq, Lebanon as well as sanctions.

(ST)