United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Monday of "further escalation" in Sudan's brutal conflict after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and its allies agreed to form a parallel government, his spokesperson said.
"The Secretary-General is deeply concerned at the announcement by the Rapid Support Forces and affiliated civilian actors and armed groups of a political charter that expresses an intention to establish a governing authority in Rapid Support Forces areas of control," said Guterres's spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.
"This further escalation in the conflict in the Sudan deepens the fragmentation of the country."
The weekend move by the RSF came nearly two years into a devastating war with the regular army that has uprooted more than 12 million people and caused what the United Nations calls the world's largest hunger and displacement crises.
War splits Sudan into two
Among the groups who agreed to it was a faction of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), led by Abdelaziz al-Hilu, which controls parts of the South Kordofan and Blue Nile states in the country's south.
The war, originally triggered by disputes over integrating the RSF into the military, has killed thousands of people, with both sides accused of atrocities.
Last month, the United States determined the RSF had committed genocide in the western region of Darfur.
The conflict has split Sudan in two, with the army controlling the north and east and the RSF holding nearly all of Darfur and swathes of the south.
The army is currently on the verge of recapturing the capital Khartoum, after surging through central Sudan and regaining territory this year.
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