Leaders of the Catholic church in Yambio, South Sudan are urging people to implement peace to end fighting following a robbery of nuns in the town.

Five unknown armed men assaulted and threatened religious sisters at the Solidarity Teacher Training College in Yambio, the capital of the country’s Western Equatoria state, on 28 December, reported the Catholic News Service.

After climbing the fence surrounding the college, the men confronted the nuns, who were locking up the building for the night, and demanded guns, cash, phones, and computers, De La Salle Brother Bill Firman, director of Solidarity with South Sudan, said in a statement.

“Of course the sisters had no guns, but handed over the other items," Brother Firman said.

“It was clearly a planned attack, but the assailants were not familiar with the compound,” he said, noting that it was “a very traumatic incident, but there were no casualties.”

Yambio archdioiciese Bishop Edward Hiboro said violence and fear-mongering seem “rampant in both church and society” in South Sudan, CRS reported.

The bishop called on people of faith to demand that political representatives find ways to implement the peace deal which was signed in August.

"We will reach out to one another with the love of God and with a voice that inspires justice, courage and peace,” he said.

The Bishop said he is praying for the people who have perpetrated violence during the war, as well as the people killed, injured, and their relatives.

File photo: Christians march in Unity state (Radio Tamazuj)