(MENAFN- The Peninsula) South Sudan's army has carried out "grave" human rights abuses in an all-out offensive that has cut off aid from half a million people, the regional bloc pushing peace efforts said Friday.
East Africa's eight-country IGAD bloc condemned the "unwarranted and appalling actions" of the government, reporting "violence targeting civilians, grave human rights abuses and destruction of villages."
The assault, which began in late April, is one of the heaviest government offensives in the 17-month long civil war, with gunmen raping, torching towns and looting aid supplies in the northern battleground state of Unity, according to the UN and aid agencies.
The assault is now expanding into neighbouring states to the north and east.
"Government forces have been conducting full-scale military offensive against opposition forces in Rubkona, Mayom, Guit, Koch and Mayendit counties in Unity state," the IGAD statement read.
"It is also increasingly clear that the offensive is being expanded into Jonglei and Upper Nile states."
UN aid chief in South Sudan Toby Lanzer this week said the number of civilians left without "life-saving aid" due to the offensive in Unity alone had risen to 500,000, after the UN and aid agencies pulled out due to a surge in fighting.
"IGAD mediators are extremely dismayed at the credible reports... of acts of violence targeting civilians, grave human rights abuses and destruction of villages," the statement added, warning "there is no military solution" to the war.
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