Flag of Senegal
Senegal’s flag is three vertical bands of equal width, green, gold and red, with a green five-pointed star in the centre of the gold. The constitution gives no meanings; the explanation published by the guide Au Sénégal and by Le Petit Journal Dakar has green for faith and hope, gold for the wealth won by work, red for the blood of sacrifice, and the star’s five points for Senegal’s openness to the five continents.
Easily confused with
- Flag of MaliMali’s flag is three vertical bands of equal width: green, gold and red. The constitution adopted in 2023 describes it in those words and, like the constitution of 1992 before it, gives the colours no meaning.
- Flag of GuineaGuinea’s flag is three vertical bands of equal width: red, yellow and green. The constitution gives the colours no meaning; at Guinea’s national citizenship week in 2024, a senior official of Coyah prefecture said the bands stand for the ancestors’ sacrifices for the freedom, dignity and happiness of the Guinean people.
- Flag of CameroonBoth have a star on the middle band: green on gold for Senegal, gold on red for Cameroon.
How to read it
Article 1 of the constitution of 2001, as revised in 2016, describes the flag as three vertical and equal bands of green, gold and red, with a green five-pointed star in the centre of the gold band, and gives the motto “Un Peuple – Un But – Une Foi” (one people, one goal, one faith). It fixes no shades, proportions or size for the star. The flag dates from independence: the Mali Federation of 1959 had a green, yellow and red flag with a human figure, the kanaga, in the middle, and when Senegal became independent on 20 August 1960 it kept the tricolour and replaced the kanaga with a green star, Le Petit Journal Dakar writes.
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Senegal’s and Mali’s flags side by side
Mali’s flag has the same bands in the same order, green, gold and red, and no star. Mali’s constitution also gives the same motto, one people, one goal, one faith. Senegal’s flag began as the flag of the Mali Federation, which joined French Sudan, now Mali, and Senegal in 1959.
Telling it from Cameroon’s flag
Cameroon’s flag also has a star on its middle band, but by Cameroon’s constitution its bands are green, red and yellow and its star is gold on the red. Senegal’s star is green on gold.
What the colours and star stand for
In the explanation Au Sénégal publishes, green is for Muslims the colour of the Prophet’s flag, for Christians the symbol of hope and for animists the symbol of fertility. Gold is wealth, the fruit of work for a people that put economic problems first, and also the colour of arts and letters and of the mind. Red, Le Petit Journal Dakar adds, is the colour of blood and of life, and so of the sacrifice the whole nation accepted, and of the determination to fight underdevelopment.
The star is a sign often found in Black African symbolism. It has five points for Senegal’s openness to the five continents, stands for the sky and so for spiritual values, and is green for the hope of the young independent republic.
Read next
- Next in African flagsFlag of Sierra LeoneSierra Leone’s flag is three horizontal stripes, green, white and blue from the top. The meanings given for it are green for the country’s agricultural resources, white for peace and blue for its natural harbour, as The Gambia’s cabinet quoted Sierra Leone’s official description in 1964; Sierra Leone’s constitution gives the colours no meaning.
- 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
- Senegal 2001 (rev. 2016) Constitution, Constitution of Senegal (2001, rev. 2016), Article 1, Constitute Project, Article 1
- L’hymne national du Sénégal et les symboles de la République, Au Sénégal, “Les symboles du Sénégal: Drapeau”, Au Sénégal (au-senegal.com), Les symboles du Sénégal: Drapeau
- Quelle est la signification du drapeau sénégalais ?, Natacha Marbot, Le Petit Journal Dakar, 3 May 2022 (updated 7 August 2026), Le Petit Journal (lepetitjournal.com Dakar), Le rouge; De la colonisation à l’indépendance
- Constitution de la République du Mali (Journal officiel, 22 juillet 2023), Journal officiel de la République du Mali, special no. 13, 22 July 2023, Decree 2023-0401/PT-RM, Article 30, Secrétariat général du Gouvernement, République du Mali, Article 30
- Cameroon 1972 (rev. 2008) Constitution, Constitution of Cameroon (1972, rev. 2008), Article 1, Constitute Project, Article 1
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 13, 2026. How we research
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