Flag of Sierra Leone
Sierra 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.
Easily confused with
- Flag of GabonThree equal horizontal stripes of green, yellow and blue, as Gabon’s constitution describes it. The constitution gives no meanings; Larousse explains the green as the forest that covers the country, the yellow as the sun and the blue as the sea along its western edge.
- Flag of LesothoLesotho’s flag has blue, white and green horizontal stripes, the white widest, with a black Basotho hat (mokorotlo) in the centre. At its unveiling in 2006 the Mail & Guardian reported the blue as standing for rain, the white for peace and the green for prosperity, and Deputy Prime Minister Lesao Lehohla said the flag showed “a nation at peace with itself and at peace with its neighbours”.
- Flag of UzbekistanUzbekistan’s flag has three equal horizontal stripes of blue, white and green, divided by thin red stripes, with a white crescent and twelve white stars on the blue by the pole. The government portal gives the meanings: blue for the sky and water, white for peace and good luck, green for nature and new life, the red stripes for the power of life, the crescent for the newly independent republic, and the twelve stars for historical traditions and the ancient solar calendar.
How to read it
Section 3 of the Constitution of Sierra Leone (1991) declares the national flag: from top to bottom, three horizontal stripes of green, white and blue, in the proportion of nine units across to six down for official use. The flag dates from independence in 1961.
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Sierra Leone’s and Gabon’s flags side by side
Gabon’s flag also has three horizontal stripes of green, a middle colour and blue, but its middle stripe is yellow: Gabon’s constitution describes a tricolour of “green, yellow and blue” in three horizontal bands of equal size. Sierra Leone’s middle stripe is white.
The model for The Gambia’s flag
When The Gambia prepared for independence in 1964, its cabinet pointed to Sierra Leone’s flag as an example of a flag with an official description, according to the flag historian Jos Poels, who has read the cabinet papers in Banjul. The Gambian committee then asked contestants for, for example, green for agricultural resources and blue for the Gambia River. The Gambian flag chosen has both.
Read next
- Next in African flagsFlag of TogoTogo’s flag is five horizontal stripes, green and yellow in turn, with a red square in the top left corner holding a white five-pointed star. Its constitutions describe the flag without giving its colours a meaning; it was designed by the Togolese artist Paul Ahyi in 1960.
- The same shape in Army ranksChief warrant officer 2 (W-2)A silver bar with two black squares is the insignia of a chief warrant officer 2 (CW2), pay grade W-2 in the US Army.
More african flags
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols drawn with lines or squares and rectangles.
Sources
- Sierra Leone 1991 (reinst. 1996, rev. 2013) Constitution, Constitution of Sierra Leone, 1991, section 3 (Constitute Project), Constitute Project, section 3
- Where the Gambia River gives life (Jos Poels, ICV 27, 2017), Jos Poels, “Where the Gambia River gives life: a tribute to Louis Lucien Thomasi”, paper to the 27th International Congress of Vexillology, London 2017, International Federation of Vexillological Associations (FIAV), pp. 8–9
- Gabon 1991 (rev. 2011) Constitution, Constitution of Gabon of 1991 (rev. 2011), Article 2 (English translation), Constitute Project, Article 2
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 13, 2026. How we research
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