Flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
A sky-blue flag with a yellow star in the top corner by the pole, crossed diagonally by a red band with thin yellow edges, as the constitution describes it. The Presidency of the Republic says the sky blue stands for peace, the red band for the blood of the martyrs and the yellow for the country’s wealth, and that the star is for a united country with a bright future.
Easily confused with
- Flag of the Republic of the CongoA flag divided diagonally by a yellow band, with a green triangle on the side of the pole and a red one on the other, as Congo’s constitution describes it. The constitution gives no meanings; Larousse explains the green as the forest, the yellow as the savanna and the red as the blood shed by Congolese martyrs.
- Flag of SomaliaSomalia’s flag is light blue with a white five-pointed star in the centre. Somalia’s government says the star’s five points stand for the five regions in which Somalis live, divided under colonial rule; the Foreign Ministry reads the blue as life and the natural wealth of Somalia’s coast. Mohammed Awale Liban designed it, and it was adopted on 12 October 1954.
How to read it
Article 1 of the constitution of 18 February 2006, as revised in 2011, says the country’s emblem is the sky-blue flag with a yellow star in the upper left corner, crossed on the slant by a red band finely edged in yellow. The same article gives the motto, “Justice - Paix - Travail” (Justice, Peace, Work), and the coat of arms: a leopard’s head with an ivory tusk on one side and a spear on the other, resting on a base. Larousse says the flag was adopted in 2006, based on the flag the country flew from 1963 to 1971, and gives the same meanings as the Presidency.
Also searched as: congo kinshasa flag, democratic republic of the congo flag, democratic republic of the congo flag meaning, drc flag, dr congo flag, flag of the democratic republic of the congo.
Telling it from the Republic of the Congo’s flag
The Republic of the Congo’s flag is also crossed by a diagonal band, but its band is yellow, with a green triangle on the side of the pole and a red one on the other, and it has no star. The DR Congo’s field is sky blue and its band is red with yellow edges, with the star in the top corner by the pole.
Read next
- Next in African flagsFlag of Equatorial GuineaGreen, white and red horizontal stripes with a blue triangle at the pole and the coat of arms in the centre: a ceiba (silk-cotton) tree on a silver shield, six stars above it and the motto “Unidad, Paz, Justicia” below. The country’s embassy in Venezuela says the green is the vegetation and forests, the white the peace the people want, the red the blood of the martyrs of independence and the blue the country’s waters, and that the six stars are its territories, the mainland and the islands.
- The same shape in Asian flagsFlag of AzerbaijanAzerbaijan’s flag has three horizontal stripes of equal width, blue, red and green from the top, with a white crescent and a white eight-pointed star in the middle of the red. The President’s office gives the meanings: blue for the Turkic origin of the Azerbaijani people, red for the wish to build a modern society and develop democracy, and green for belonging to Islamic civilisation.
More african flags
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols drawn with lines, squares and rectangles or stars.
Sources
- Congo (Democratic Republic of the) 2005 (rev. 2011) Constitution, Constitution of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (rev. 2011), Article 1 (English translation), Constitute Project, Article 1
- Drapeau (Présidence de la République démocratique du Congo), Presidency fact sheet on the national flag (PDF), Présidence de la République démocratique du Congo, Page 1 and footnote
- Drapeau de la République démocratique du Congo (Larousse), Encyclopédie Larousse en ligne, image entry with caption, Larousse, Caption
- Congo (Republic of the) 2015 Constitution, Constitution of the Republic of the Congo of 2015, Article 3 (English translation), Constitute Project, Article 3
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 13, 2026. How we research
Added .