South Sudan becomes U.N. member

UNITED NATIONS, July 14 (UPI) -- The United Nations is confident that South Sudan, as the 193rd and newest member, will uphold the principles of peace, a U.N. official said Thursday.

Members of the U.N. Security Council recommended Wednesday that South Sudan be allowed to join the U.N. General Assembly. The republic was admitted Thursday to the world body.

"At this moment … in this place … the world gathers to say in one voice: Welcome, South Sudan. Welcome to the community of nations," said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a statement.

South Sudan became the world's newest independent nation last weekend. Its secession from Sudan came through a peace deal reached in 2005 that ended a civil war in the region.

Issues like citizenship, the sharing of oil revenue and border demarcation are unsettled. Border conflicts centered around Abyei and South Kordofan state threaten the principles of the peace agreement.

"Both parties need to agree immediately to a cessation of hostilities," Susan Rice, the U.S. envoy to the United Nations, said in a statement. "The violence, the human rights abuses and the deliberate obstruction of access for humanitarian agencies must end."

Joseph Deiss, the president of the U.N. General Assembly, said that by welcoming South Sudan to the community of nations, Juba must uphold its obligations to the world.

"I am confident that South Sudan will contribute to promote the objectives of security, peace, prosperity, friendship and cooperation between peoples as they are promoted by the United Nations, and this for the good of the people of South Sudan, for the good of the region and for the entire African continent," he said.