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 ven worse".

Over 20 political parties, 10 civil organizations, and 5 military groups led by RSF were among the signatories.

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

The formation of this administration had long been hinted from last year as Nairobi pushed for a third track to halt war in Sudan.

Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied political and armed groups have signed a charter to establish a parallel government, in a move that risks deepening the country’s fragmentation amid a nearly two-year civil war. The agreement, signed late on Saturday in Kenya, aims to create a “government of peace and unity.”

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.