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 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.

NAIROBI — Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, and its allies signed a charter on Sunday to establish a unity government in the conflict-hit country.

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.