UN welcomes South Sudan as its 193rd member

The flag of South Sudan (C) flies after the United Nations General Assembly voted on South Sudan's membership to the United Nations at UN headquarters in New York July 14, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]

UNITED NATIONS - The colorful flag of impoverished but oil-rich South Sudan -- the newest and 193rd member of the United Nations -- was raised on Thursday at headquarters in New York to cheers and an impromptu dance by a member of the Juba delegation.

It followed within minutes of the 192-member UN General Assembly formally approving by acclamation the Security Council's recommendation of Wednesday for South Sudan's membership in the world organization.

After a few brief VIP remarks, the black, red and Green horizontally striped banner -- sporting a blue triangle with a gold star in the middle at the flag-pole end -- was raised on flag pole 85, under a cloudless sky, outside the Delegates' Entrance.

Ezekiel Gatkuoth, head of the Government of South Sudan's Mission to the United States, stepped out slowly from a gaggle of dignitaries posing under the flag to perform -- without music -- a graceful African-style victory dance. The performance by a man described as more than two meters tall was greeted with chuckles and applause.

It marked the end of formal celebrations at UN Headquarters of a decades-long struggle by the people of Juba-based South Sudan for independence from Khartoum.

"When we started our journey, we could hardly imagine that the road would lead us to this point, however much we may have hoped for it," Vice President Riek Machar Teny of South Sudan earlier told the General Assembly.

In the new nation's first remarks as a UN member -- independence was declared only last Saturday -- he pledged South Sudan would be a responsible member of the international community and respect all of its obligations under international law. Machar said that after many years of war, South Sudan intended to be a force for peace in the region.

"We do not harbor bitterness towards our former compatriots," he said, and voiced the need to agree on mechanisms for continued cooperation, demarcation and mutually beneficial management of the common border, as well as the final status of Abyei.

South Sudan would also continue to work together with Sudan to seek justice for the people of Darfur, Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile, all regions of strife, Machar said.

"The people of South Sudan have demonstrated courage and resilience over decades of civil war and bloody struggle," said Ambassador Eugene-Richard Gasana, chairman of the African Group.

"I commend them for the responsibility they have shown last January in massively and peacefully participating in the referendum for their self-determination," he added.

"This is a lesson for the United Nations and for its members," he continued. "No matter how many years a conflict may take, no matter how much sorrow and bitterness it may cause; ultimately, with courage and determination, ' There should be laughter after pain, there should be sunshine after rain' to quote a popular rock ballad."

He was referring to Why Worry by Dire Straits.

"After decades of pain, after 2.5 million martyears for independence, we are now celebrating the birth of a nation, the sunshine for a people and smile for younger generations," Gasana said.  

Equally hopeful was US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice, who attended independence celebrations Saturday, speaking for the Host Country.

"This historic and hopeful day was reached only after great suffering and almost unimaginable loss," she said. "The independence of the world's newest country is a testament to the people of South Sudan. It is also an inspiration to all who yearn for freedom."

"May the memory of your own struggle, for liberty, always serve as a reminder to insist on the universal rights of all people, to remember those still in shackles, to lift up the hungry and the desperate, and to bring hope to the broken places of the world," Rice continued.