A parallel government being set up by Sudan's Rapid Support Forces (RSF) aims to grab diplomatic legitimacy from its army-led rival and ease access to advanced weaponry, politicians who back it and paramilitary sources told Reuters.

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 groups.

Sudan's Rapid Support Forces (RSF) is establishing a parallel government to gain diplomatic legitimacy and access to advanced weaponry, challenging its army-led rival. The RSF aims for international recognition and increased military support after losing ground in the protracted conflict.

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.

Activists said three days of attacks by the paramilitary group had killed more than 200 people in White Nile state, which has emerged as a key battleground as the army regains territory.

As the army and Rapid Support Forces vie for legitimacy, Kenyan President William Ruto is accused of profiting from the paramilitary's gold trade

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.

Sudan's army and allied groups could face formidable battlefield challenges if the recent political agreement between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and a powerful faction of a southern rebel group becomes a military alliance,