A paramilitary group in Sudan has announced the formation of a parallel government in areas it controls, mainly in Darfur.

As fighting in central and south Sudan intensifies, the Sudan Founding Alliance said Gen. Mohamed Hamdan, leader of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, would head a 15-person government council that would include regional governors. A statement issued on Saturday named a Sudanese politician, Mohamed Hassan Othman al-Ta’ayshi, as prime minister.

A power struggle between two rival generals has effectively split Sudan amid a 27-month civil war that has left some 150,000 people dead.