Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and its allies have agreed to form a parallel government, they said Sunday, despite warnings such a move could further fragment the war-ravaged country. A spokesman for UN chief Antonio Guterres warned the move could "increase the fragmentation of the country and risk making this crisis even worse".

The war in Sudan has killed more than 24,000 people and driven over 14 million people — about 30% of the population — from their homes, according to the United Nations. An estimated 3.2 million Sudanese have escaped to neighboring countries.

The RSF has seized most of the western Darfur region and swathes of the Kordofan region in an almost-two-year war, but is being pushed back from central Sudan by the Sudanese army.

Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and allies have signed a charter that paved the way for the establishment of a parallel government, as Sudan’s army made advances recently against the rival g

Sudan's Rapid Support Forces and its allies agreed on Sunday to form a parallel government in areas controlled by the paramilitary. The agreement signed said the charter will lead to the establishment of a "government of peace and unity" in rebel-controlled areas,

Sudan's army said on Sunday it had seized back control of the town of el-Gitaina, just south of the capital, from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and broken the paramilitary group's siege on the strategic city of el-Obeid to the west.