KAMPALA, Uganda, July 13 (UPI) -- Africa's newest nation, South Sudan, is seeking to disarm the militias that assisted its independence struggle.
A former government official said disarmament will involve removing the weaponry from more than 200,000 former guerrilla combatants, who waged a decades-long struggle against the central authorities in the Sudanese capital Khartoum.
Chairman of the newly independent Republic of Southern Sudan's Demobilization Disarmament and Re-integration operation William Deng Deng, said the demobilization efforts are meant to reduce the size of the two armies confronting one another.
"This is an essential part of our security," Deng said. "Some of our soldiers have reached retirement age and others are having health problems. We cannot keep them in the army anymore," New Vision newspaper reported Wednesday.
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South Sudan Information Minister Barnabas Mariel Benjamin added: "Some of the guns entering into Uganda, especially into the cattle keeping communities of Uganda, are from some people in Sudan with illegal guns. If we succeed in getting rid of illegal guns here, I am sure there will be few or no guns entering Uganda.
"We want peace and unity. Our challenges are enormous but they're not insurmountable."
Given the country's emergence on the international stage as the result of a vote monitored by the international community, unlike Kosovo or the unilateral declarations of independence by Abkhazia and South Ossetia, both former territories of the post-Soviet Caucasian republic of Georgia, South Sudan's entry into the international community of nations seems far smoother, with the U.N. Security Council recommending it for U.N. membership.
The Security Council issued a statement noting South Sudan's commitment to upholding the U.N. Charter and said it looked forward to the new country joining the world body. The U.N. General Assembly is expected to vote in favor of South Sudan's membership Thursday, which would make Africa's newest nation the United Nations' 193rd member.
