The Republic of Sudan

The National Flag of Sudan

The Sudan had been governed jointly by Egypt and Britain since the 1890's, and then, in 1952, to encourage Britain to grant the Sudan independence, Egypt dropped its historic claims to the territory. And, in 1954, Britain and Egypt signed a treaty, granting Sudan its independence.

Its first flag was a horizontal tricolour of blue, yellow, and green.

Then, in 1969, General Gaafar Nimeiry led a successful coup and became leader of Sudan until the late 1980's. As part of his government, he scrapped the previous flag of the Sudan, and brought in a flag based on the pan-Arab colours of green, red, white, and black. 

The red in the flag represents the struggle of the nation, the white represents peace, the black represents the Sudan. In Arabic, Sudan means "black." And the green represents the Islamic faith. Which is the majority religion of the north of the nation. Whilst the south is predominantly animist and Christian. It is worth noting that the south will have a referendum very soon on independence, which at the moment, looks likely.

The Autonomous Government of Southern Sudan was set up after a long and bloody civil war, pitching the northern Muslims against he southern Christians. As part of the peace deal, the south was granted a great deal of autonomy, and as part of that, the government introduced its own flag. 

The flag itself is very similar to the flag of Kenya, but instead of a shield in the centre, but features a blue triangle on the hoist of the flag, with a gold star. The star is said to represent the Star of Jerusalem. 

The flag itself is a horizontal tricolour of red, white, and black, with a green isosceles triangle placed on the hoist of the flag.