South Sudan to become world's newest nation on July 9

South Sudan will officially celebrate the founding of the nation July 9, Xinhua reported.

UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon will attend the celebration in Juba, which will be the capital of the new country.

He will meet with South Sudanese President Salva Kiir Mayardit and the staff of the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) after he arrives in Juba July 7, his spokesperson Farhan Haq said.

The independence celebration is being organised, six months after South Sudan's residents voted in a UN-backed referendum to secede from the rest of Sudan.