Kamil Idris, the Prime Minister of Sudan's military-aligned government, is facing mounting criticism internally for his handling of the country's day-to-day affairs, amid reports that he is to be replaced.
Mr Idris, 70, is Prime Minister of the government based in Port Sudan on the Red Sea. A rival government backed by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces sits in Nyala, Darfur, in the west of the country.
He has been regularly criticised in recent weeks by Sudanese experts, media figures and social media users close to the army, with attacks mainly focused on his handling of the country's day-to-day affairs, particularly restoring essential services in the war-devastated capital Khartoum.
“Idris was selected for the job because he had no political affiliation or supporters to speak of that would worry [Gen Abdel Fattah] Al Burhan. It was easy to blame all failings on him or undermine his authority because he had no one to defend him,” said Sami Saeed, a US-based Sudanese analyst.
Mr Saeed said Mr Idris clashed with the top generals on the Sovereign Council, led by Gen Al Burhan, on several occasions over his handling of daily affairs. Before his appointment, top generals oversaw the work of government ministries and had the final word on major policies.
Mr Idris is the first Prime Minister to be appointed since October 2021 when Sudan's de facto ruler Gen Al Burhan and his one-time ally and RSF commander Gen Mohamed Dagalo overthrew a transitional, civilian-led government. That paved the way for the civil war that broke out in April 2023, after months of tension between the two generals over their respective roles in a future democratic Sudan.
Mr Idris is a long-time international technocrat whose lack of experience in dealing with the political, ethnic and religious situation in Sudan is widely regarded as having sealed his fate at a time of suffering and polarisation caused by the war.
A source close to him told The National on Monday that he had unexpectedly left the country to join his family in Switzerland, fuelling speculation that he will soon be replaced. Neither the Sudanese army nor the government has publicly addressed his future.
Osman Al Mirghany, a prominent Sudanese analyst and publisher with close ties to the military, said the army chief may have already decided to replace him. “His government is widely seen to have miserably failed,” he said.
His dismissal, if it happens, will come at a time when Gen Al Burhan is insisting that the armed forces and its allies – mostly Islamists once loyal to the regime of Omar Al Bashir – will continue the fight until the RSF is vanquished.
Gen Al Burhan has also resisted mediation offers by regional and international powers, while Gen Dagalo appears to be more open to negotiations, although his stance is widely suspected to be motivated by a desire to gain legitimacy.
The war has to date killed tens of thousands, displaced millions of people and created the world's most dire humanitarian crisis, with about 20 million people hungry. Both generals claim to be fighting to restore democracy and bring economic prosperity to the impoverished but resource-rich Afro-Arab nation.
