The flag of South Sudan was adopted following the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended the Second Sudanese Civil War. A similar version of the flag was previously used as the flag of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement. The flag of South Sudan is older than the country itself, as the flag was adopted in 2005, while the country became independent in 2011.
The flag has horizontal bands of red (on the top) and blue (on the bottom), of equal width, separated by a central green band which splits into a horizontal “Y” shape, the arms of which end at the corners of the hoist side (and follow the flag’s diagonals). The “Y” embraces a black isosceles triangle from which the arms are separated by narrow yellow or gold bands; the red and blue bands are separated from the green band and its arms by narrow white stripes. The stripes at the fly end are in the 5:1:3:1:5 ratio. Three of the flag’s colors were taken from the Flag of the South African Republic and the Union Jack, while the remaining three colors were taken from the flag of the African National Congress.
As an ethnic flag, the five-pointed white Star of Unity in its center represents the areas where the Somali ethnic group has traditionally resided, namely Djibouti, Somaliland (former British protectorate), the Somali region in Ethiopia, the North Eastern Province in Kenya, and Somalia (Italian Somaliland). However, the flag does not represent all the Somali regions anymore, going from an ethnic flag to the national flag of Somalia only. It now officially denotes the sky as well as the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel and the Somali Sea, which flank the country.
The national flag of Sierra Leone is a tricolour consisting of three horizontal green, white and blue bands. It was adopted in 1961, Sierra Leone’s independence year, to replace the British Blue Ensign defaced with the arms of the Crown Colony of Sierra Leone.
The colors of the flag carry cultural, political, and regional meanings. The green alludes to the country’s natural resources – specifically agriculture and its mountains. The white epitomizes “unity and justice”. The blue evokes the “natural harbor” of Freetown, the capital city of Sierra Leone, as well as the hope of “contributing to world peace” through its usage.
The flag consists of five different coloured bands (blue, yellow, red, white, and green) starting from one end and diverging towards the other end. The oblique bands symbolize a dynamic new country moving into the future. The colour blue depicts the sky and the sea that surrounds the Seychelles. Yellow is for the sun which gives light and life, red symbolizes the people and their determination to work for the future in unity and love, while the white band represents social justice and harmony. The green depicts the land and natural environment.
Much symbolism and many connotations are beholden to the stripes and singular star of the Senegalese flag. From a national perspective, green is highly symbolic within all of the country’s primary religions. In Islam, the country’s majority religion at 94% percent of the population, the green of both the first stripe and the star represent the colour of the Prophet, Christians see the presence of green as a portent of hope, and Animists view green as representative of fecundity.
The Senegalese government offers exegesis for the presence of yellow and red as well, yellow being “the symbol of wealth; it represents the product of work, for a nation whose main priority is the progress of economy, which will allow the increase of the cultural level, the second national priority.” Additionally, yellow is denoted as “the colour of arts, literature, and intellect”, primarily because literature teachers in Senegal are known to wear yellow blouses. Red “recalls the colour of blood, therefore colour of life and the sacrifice accepted by the nation, and also of the strong determination to fight against underdevelopment.”
The flag of São Tomé and Príncipe consists of a red triangle situated at the hoist, with three horizontal green, yellow and green bands charged with two five-pointed black stars at the centre. Adopted in 1975 to replace the flag of Portugal from the colonial period, it has been the flag of the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe since the country gained independence in that same year. The design of the present flag was inspired by and is almost identical to the flag of the Movement for the Liberation of São Tomé and Príncipe.
The flag of Rwanda (Kinyarwanda: ibendera ry’Urwanda) was adopted on October 25, 2001.
The flag has three colours: blue, green and yellow. The blue band represents happiness and peace, the yellow band symbolizes economic development, and the green band symbolizes the hope of prosperity. The yellow sun represents enlightenment.
The new flag represents national unity, respect for work, heroism, and confidence in the future. It was adopted to avoid connotations to the 1994 genocide. The flag was designed by Alphonse Kirimobenecyo.
The flag is an adaptation of the winning entry from Michael Taiwo Akinkunmi in a competition held in 1959. Akinkunmi was a 23-year-old student at the time he designed the flag. He was studying at Norwood Technical College in London, England, when he saw an advertisement in a newspaper that submissions were being accepted for the design of a new national flag of Nigeria. The original submission had a red radiating sun badge in the central white vertical band with a green vertical band on each side. After the badge was removed by the judges, the flag has remained unchanged. It was first officially used on 1 October 1960, the day Nigeria was granted independence from the United Kingdom.
