Flag of Sudan

Not to be confused with Flag of Palestine.

The current flag of Sudan (Arabic: علم السودان, romanized: ʿalam as-Sūdān) was adopted on 20 May 1970 and consists of a horizontal red-white-black tricolour with a green triangle at the hoist. The flag is based on the Arab Liberation Flag of the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, as are the flags of Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and Palestine and formerly of the United Arab Republic, North Yemen, South Yemen, and the Libyan Arab Republic.

Republic of the Sudan

Use	National flag, civil and state ensign
Proportion	1:2
Adopted	20 May 1970; 53 years ago (1970-05-20)
Design	A horizontal tricolour of red, white, and black; with a green triangle based at the hoist.
Designed by	Abdel Rahman Ahmed Al-Jali

People with flags during the Sudanese Revolution (2018–19)

People with Sudanese flags drawn on their hands

Whereas there is no fixed order for the Pan-Arab Colours of black, white, red, and green, flags using the Arab Liberation Colours (a subset of the Pan-Arab Colours) maintain a horizontal triband of equal stripes of red, white, and black, with green being used to distinguish the different flags from each other by way of green stars, Arabic script, or, in the case of Sudan, the green triangle along the hoist. In the original Arab Liberation Flag, green was used in the form of the flag of the Kingdom of Egypt and Sudan emblazoned on the breast of the Eagle of Saladin in the middle stripe. For 13 years from Sudan's independence in 1956 to the 1969 military coup of Gaafar Nimeiry, Sudan used a tricolour flag of blue-yellow-green.

Design

Symbolism

According to World Flags 101:

Red, white, black and green are called the pan-Arab colours and have been historically linked to the Arab people and Islamic religion for centuries. The colours stand for Arab unity and independence. The red stripe represents Sudan's struggle for independence and many other struggles, and the sacrifices of the country's martyrs. The white represents the people, light and optimism. It also represents the White Flag League which was a nationalist group that rose up against colonial rule in 1924. The black represents Sudan; in Arabic, 'Sudan,' means 'land of the black people.' It also represents the black flag of nationalists who fought colonial rule during the Mahdist Revolution, late in 19th century. Green represents Islam, agriculture and the prosperity of the land.^[1]

Construction Sheet

•  
  Flag construction sheet

Colour scheme

The specified colours are as follows:

Colour scheme	Green	Red	Black	White
CMYK	100-0-64-55	0-92-75-18	0-0-0-100	0-0-0-0
HEX	#007229	#D21034	#000000	#FFFFFF
RGB	0-114-41	210-16-52	0-0-0	255-255-255

Government and armed forces flags

Government flags

•  
  Flag of the President of the Sudan

Armed forces flags

•  
  Air Force ensign

Historical flags

Flags of the Mahdists

In 1881, at the beginning of the Mahdist War, self-proclaimed Mahdi, Muhammad Ahmad appointed Abdallahi ibn Muhammad as one of his four caliphs and handed him a black flag.^[2] Abdallahi used his black flag to recruit Baggara Arabs and other tribes from the west. The other caliphs used different coloured flags.^[3] The black horizontal stripe in the current Sudanese flag is a reference to this Mahdist-era black flag.^[4]

•  
  Flag used during the Mahdist Revolt and in Mahdist Sudan (1881–1899)
•  
  Banner used by the Mahdist Army; captured at Omdurman in 1898.
•  
  The black standard was also used in Mahdist Sudan

Anglo-Egyptian Sudan

Between 1899 and 1956, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan was administered jointly as a condominium by Egypt and the United Kingdom. The condominium did not have its own flag; instead the flag of Egypt and the flag of the United Kingdom were always flown together, with the British flag taking precedence.^[5]

A flag did exist as a rank flag for the British Governor General of the Sudan. In common with the rank flags of governors and commissioners of other British overseas territories, it consisted of a Union Flag defaced with a white disk bearing the territory's badge or coat of arms, surrounded by a wreath of laurel. As no badge or coat of arms existed for Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, the disk instead contained the words "GOVERNOR GENERAL OF THE SUDAN".

At the Afro–Asian Conference held between 18 and 24 April 1955, Sudan was represented by a white flag bearing the name "SUDAN" in red capital letters.^[6][7][8]

•  
  Flags used in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan (1914–1922)
•  
  Flags used in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan (1922–1956)
•  
  Flag of the British Governor General
•  
  Flag of the Sudan Defence Force (1925–1956)
•  
  Provisional flag of Sudan used during the Afro-Asian Conference (April 1955)^[9]

Republic of Sudan (1956–1969)

Republic of Sudan

Use	National flag, civil and state ensign
Proportion	1:2
Adopted	1956
Relinquished	1970; 14 years of use
Design	A horizontal tricolour of blue, yellow and green.
Designed by	Macki Sufi

Upon independence from Egypt and the United Kingdom on 1 January 1956, Sudan adopted a blue-yellow-green tricolour as its national flag. This flag was designed by the poet Macki Sufi^[10] and remained in use until 1970, when the current flag was adopted.^[11] The colours of the flag represented the River Nile (blue), the Sahara (yellow) and farmlands (green). They were chosen as they were neutral between ethnic groups and political parties.^[12]

Use of this flag resurfaced during the 2018–19 Sudanese protests.^{[13][14][15][16][17]}

•  
  Flag of the Republic of the Sudan (1956–1969)
•  
  Naval ensign (1956–1970)
•  
  Customs ensign (1956–1970)

Colour scheme	Blue	Yellow	Green
CMYK	91-59-0-31	0-3-100-0	100-0-56-42
HEX	#0F47AF	#FFF500	#00923F
RGB	15-71-175	255-245-0	0-146-63

Democratic Republic of the Sudan (1969–1985)

Following a coup d'état in May 1969, the country was renamed the Democratic Republic of the Sudan and a competition was held to design a new flag. The winning entry was designed by artist Abdel Rahman Ahmed Al-Jali based on pan-Arab colours and was adopted as the national flag in May 1970.^[10]

•  
  Flag of the Democratic Republic of the Sudan (1969–1970)
•  
  Flag of the Democratic Republic of the Sudan (1970–1985)
•  
  Standard of the president of the Democratic Republic of the Sudan.

Former provincial flags

•  
  Kordofan

Sub-national flags

The sub-national flags usually consist of the state's emblem displayed on a white or coloured background.^[18] Some of the states of Sudan have adopted their own distinctive flags.

States

•  
  Blue Nile State
•  
  Central Darfur^[19]
•  
  North Darfur^[20]
•  
  South Darfur^[21]
•  
  West Darfur^[22]
•  
  Kassala State^[23]
•  
  Khartoum State
•  
  Al Qadarif State^[24]

Administrative areas

•  
  Abyei Area^[25]

See also

•  Africa portal

• List of Sudanese flags
• Emblem of Sudan
• Flag of South Sudan
• Flag of Egypt
• Flag of Syria
• Flag of Iraq
• Flag of Yemen

References

1. "Sudan Flag". World Flags 101. Moxy Media. Retrieved 9 August 2008.
2. Hill, Richard Leslie (1967) [First published 1951]. A Biographical Dictionary of the Sudan (2nd ed.). Routledge. p. 6. ISBN 978-0-7146-1037-5.
3. Featherstone, Donald F. (1993). Khartoum 1885: General Gordon's Last Stand. Osprey military campaign series, v. 23. Osprey Publishing. p. 18. ISBN 978-1-85532-301-8.
4. Fadlalla, Mohamed Hassan (2005). The Problem of Dar Fur. iUniverse. p. 33. ISBN 978-0-595-36502-9.
5. "Sudan - Historical flags". Flagspot.net. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
6. "Days of Struggle". tempo. 21 April 2015.
7. Shimazu, Naoko (October 2011). "'Diplomacy as Theatre': Recasting the Bandung Conference of 1955 as Cultural History" (PDF). Birkbeck Institutional Research Online.
8. سودانية, ثقافة (1 July 2018). "Sudan's first flag, during the 1st conference of the Non-Alignment Movement in Bandung in 1955, Indonesia #SudaneseCulture #ثقافة_سودانيةpic.twitter.com/idxrMoTwnD".
9. Isnaeni, Hendri F. (20 April 2015). "Sudan Belum Merdeka, Benderanya Sudah Berkibar di KAA". Historia - Majalah Sejarah Populer Pertama di Indonesia (in Indonesian). Retrieved 20 April 2020.
10. "علم غير مألوف يرفعه السودانيون في التظاهرات.. ما قصته؟". عربي21. 28 December 2018.
11. "Sudan - Historical flags". Flagspot.net. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
12. "sudan rb". www.rbvex.it. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
13. "Why is the First and Former Flag of Sudan Resurfacing on Social Media?". 500 Words Magazine. 27 December 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
14. Hashim, Mohanad (5 May 2019). "The art fuelling Sudan's revolution". BBC News. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
15. "Flying the flag for Sudan – what flag is that?". Radio Dabanga. 19 April 2019. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
16. "Breakthrough agreement between Sudan protest leaders, military". Prothom Alo. 28 April 2019. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
17. Amir Ahmed, Mohammed Tawfeeq and Tamara Qiblawi. "Sudan celebrates end of stand-off between military leaders and opposition". CNN. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
18. "Sudanese Provincial and State flags".
19. "Central Darfur governor lauds Transitional Sovereignty Council VP's efforts to maintain peace and stability".
20. "Darfur Govs discuss security and peace". 16 October 2020.
21. "South Darfur governor receives results of the investigation committee". 24 March 2022.
22. "Photo of the Day- 16 January 2020". 16 January 2020.
23. "Sudan: Governor of Kassala State Affirms Strength of Sudanese Eritrean Relations". 30 May 2019.
24. Image fotw.info ^{[dead link]}
25. "Abyei Special Administrative Area".

External links

• Sudan at Flags of the World