KHARTOUM: Sudan鈥檚 army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan appointed on Monday former UN official Kamil Idris as the country鈥檚 new prime minister, more than two years into a brutal war.

Idris, a career diplomat and past presidential candidate, was the director general of the United Nations鈥� World Intellectual Property Organization and has also served in Sudan鈥檚 permanent mission to the UN.

鈥淭he chairman of the sovereignty council issued a constitutional decree appointing Kamil El-Tayeb Idris Abdelhafiz as prime minister,鈥� a statement from Sudan鈥檚 ruling Transitional Sovereignty Council read.

In 2010, Idris ran in the presidential elections against longtime Islamist-military ruler Omar Al-Bashir.

Since April 2023, the war in Sudan has pitted Burhan鈥檚 army forces against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, commanded by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.

The conflict has killed tens of thousands, displaced 13 million and created what the United Nations describes as the world鈥檚 worst humanitarian crisis.

Idris replaces veteran diplomat Dafallah Al-Hajj Ali, who was appointed by Burhan at the end of April and served less than three weeks as acting prime minister.

Burhan had earlier said that he would form a technocratic wartime government to help 鈥渃omplete what remains of our military objectives, which is liberating Sudan from these rebels.鈥�

In April, the RSF announced it would form a rival government, a few weeks after signing a charter in Kenya with a coalition of military and political allies.

The move has raised international fears that Sudan would be permanently divided between the two sides, both of which have been accused of war atrocities.

The conflict has already carved up Sudan, with the army holding the north, east and center while the RSF dominates nearly all of Darfur and, with its allies, parts of the south.