Sudan Appoints Intellectual Property Expert Kamil Idris as New Prime Minister
Veteran law and diplomacy expert replaces previous nominee Dafallah Haj Ali in surprise move by military-led Sovereign Council.
Sudan’s transitional military leadership has appointed international law expert and former United Nations official Kamil Idris as the country’s new prime minister, reversing an earlier decision to install a career diplomat in the role.
The appointment was made official on Monday through a constitutional decree issued by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, head of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereign Council.
“The Sovereign Council issued a decree appointing Dr Kamil Idris as Prime Minister of Sudan,” the council said on Monday. The announcement follows the Council’s sudden reversal of an earlier decision to appoint Ambassador Dafallah Haj Ali to the position.
Intellectual property veteran
Born in the village of Al-Zurarat near Dongola in northern Sudan, Idris hails from the Nubian community and is widely known for his contributions to international law and intellectual property rights.
Idris served as Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) from 1997 to 2008 and was Secretary-General of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV). During his time at WIPO, he advocated for greater inclusivity for developing countries in the global IP system.
Academic credentials
Idris holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Cairo University and a law degree from the University of Khartoum. He later earned a PhD in international law from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. He also holds additional qualifications in political science, international affairs, and finance from institutions in Geneva.
Teaching and diplomacy
Idris has taught philosophy and jurisprudence at Cairo University, and served as a professor of international law and intellectual property law at the University of Khartoum. He also taught at Ohio University and held an honorary law professorship at Peking University in China.
Before joining WIPO in 1982, Idris was a member of Sudan’s diplomatic corps with the rank of ambassador. He also served two terms on the United Nations International Law Commission between 1992–1996 and 2000–2001, where he acted as a spokesperson and coordinator for the Group of 77 developing countries.
Fluent in Arabic, English, and French—with working knowledge of Spanish—Idris is expected to bring both international credibility and legal expertise to a transitional government struggling with civil war, economic collapse, and diplomatic isolation.
The appointment comes amid mounting pressure from regional and international actors for Sudan to form a more inclusive and civilian-led administration following more than a year of devastating conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
Reporting by Awad Mustafa