The world's newest nation, South Sudan, has announced plans to introduce its own currency.

The South Sudan pound will carry an image of John Garang, the deceased hero of the country's struggle for independence. It will begin arriving by cargo plane from Britain on Wednesday and go into circulation next Monday.

Finance Minister David Deng Athorbei told reporters in Juba, the nation's capital, government salaries for July will be paid in the new currency, which he said will have a one-to-one value with the existing Sudanese pound.

Juba was the scene Monday of a jubilant celebration as the ministers of the former semiautonomous Southern Sudanese government were sworn into the same positions in a caretaker Cabinet.

Later on Monday, the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to withdraw the U.N. peacekeeping force sent to Sudan to monitor the 2005 peace agreement that ended the Sudanese civil war.

U.N. Secretary General Ban ki-Moon had appealed unsuccessfully to the Khartoum government to allow the peacekeepers to remain to deal with unresolved issues from that agreement. Both the U.S. and British governments said they voted in favor of withdrawing the peacekeepers with regret.

Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador, said the U.N. mission still has a “critical role” to play in the region's stability. She called on Sudan's government to reconsider its position.

The Security Council on Monday also accepted South Sudan's application for membership. When the U.N. General Assembly votes on the application later in the week, South Sudan will become the 193rd member state of the United Nations.