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UNITED NATIONS, July 14 (Itar-Tass) – National flag of a new country, the Republic of South Sudan was hoisted at a mast in front of the UN headquarters here Thursday.
Shortly before the ceremony, the UN General Assembly endorsed a resolution on issuing the organization’s membership to South Sudan.
The new country is the UN’s 193rd member. The decision on granting membership to it was taken without voting.
The flag of the new nation contains a five-pointed star in a blue triangle against the background of the blackish-reddish-green tricolor.
South Sudan’s Vice President Riek Machar said at the ceremony that white is the symbol of peace in Sudan, red is the symbol of blood that the Southern Sudanese shed during struggle for independence, green is the color of land, blue is the water of the Nile that flows across the country’s territory, and the gold stat symbolizes the unity of peoples living in the new country. The design of South Sudan’s flag was endorsed after the signing of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the government in Khartoum and the Popular Liberation Army of Sudan. The document put an end to years of bloody civil warring between the predominantly Moslem North and the Christian South.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the President of the 85th session of the General Assembly, former Swiss President Joseph Deiss attended the flag-raising ceremony.