Flag of South Sudan
South Sudan’s flag is three horizontal stripes, black, red and green, separated by white stripes, with a light blue triangle along the pole holding a yellow five-pointed star. It is the flag of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), kept at independence in 2011; the design magazine Works That Work explains the blue as the waters of the Nile and the star as a guiding light.
Easily confused with
- Flag of SudanSudan’s flag has three horizontal stripes, red, white and black, with a green triangle at the pole. Sudan’s constitutional texts leave the flag to ordinary law and give its colours no meaning; the Brooklyn Museum’s guide to African flags reads the red as the martyrs of the independence movement, the black as the people and land of Sudan (the country’s name means “black” in Arabic), the white as peace and the green as Nile agriculture, prosperity and Islam.
- Flag of KenyaKenya’s flag is three horizontal stripes, black, red and green, separated by narrow white stripes, with a shield and two white spears in the centre. Kenya’s embassy in Stockholm explains the black as the people of Kenya, the red as the blood shed in the fight for independence, the green as the fertility of the land and the white as peace; the constitution itself gives the colours no meaning.
How to read it
Article 7 of the Transitional Constitution of South Sudan (2011) leaves the flag to be prescribed by law. According to Store norske leksikon, the liberation movement used the flag from 2005, it became the national flag at independence on 9 July 2011, and its proportions are 1:2; the encyclopedia credits the design to Samuel Ajak, an artist and an officer in the liberation war. Eye Radio describes it as three horizontal stripes of black, red and green separated by white stripes, with a light blue triangle at the hoist holding a five-pointed yellow star.
Also searched as: flag of south sudan, south sudanese flag, south sudanese flag meaning, south sudan flag, south sudan flag meaning.
Light blue, not dark blue
On 25 August 2023 South Sudan’s Media Authority warned printers, advertisers and media houses against printing versions of the flag that do not match the official one, Eye Radio reported. The triangle had been the centre of the debate: a deep blue was sometimes printed in place of the correct light blue. The memo said the flag may be reproduced only in its original design, shapes and colours, and that printing and advertising companies that do not comply face penalties.
Telling it from Kenya’s flag
Kenya’s flag has the same black, red and green stripes separated by white stripes. Kenya’s has a shield and two white spears in the centre and no triangle; South Sudan’s has the blue triangle with the yellow star at the pole.
From the SPLM to the state
Works That Work, a design magazine, says new designs were considered at independence, but keeping the SPLM flag was a sentimental and strategic decision: the people of Southern Sudan had gathered and fought under it in the two civil wars. Eye Radio notes that the flag was adopted after the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended the Second Sudanese Civil War.
Read next
- Next in African flagsFlag of TanzaniaTanzania’s flag is divided diagonally by a black band edged in gold, from the bottom corner by the pole to the top corner at the fly, with green above and blue below. Tanzania’s Daily News explains the green as vegetation and fertile land, the black as the people, the gold as the country’s natural wealth and the blue as its lakes, rivers and ocean.
- The same shape in Asian flagsFlag of JordanJordan’s flag has three equal stripes of black, white and green and a red triangle at the pole holding a white seven-pointed star. Al-Mamlaka, Jordan’s public broadcaster, explains the stripes as the Umayyad, Abbasid and Fatimid caliphates, the red triangle as the Hashemite family, and the seven points of the star as the seven verses of the Fatiha, the opening chapter of the Quran.
More african flags
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols drawn with lines, squares and rectangles, stars or triangles.
Sources
- Transitional Constitution of South Sudan, 2011 (Constitute Project), Transitional Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan, 2011 (rev. 2013), art. 7 (English text), Constitute Project, art. 7
- Media Authority warns against use of wrong national flag (Eye Radio), Emmanuel J. Akile, “Media Authority warns against use of wrong national flag”, Eye Radio, 25 August 2023, Eye Radio, article text
- Sør-Sudans flagg og våpen (Store norske leksikon), Jon Gunnar Arntzen, “Sør-Sudans flagg og våpen”, Store norske leksikon, Store norske leksikon, article text
- Branding the world’s newest country (Works That Work), Anne Quito, “Branding the world’s newest country”, Works That Work, issue 4, Works That Work magazine, article text
- Constitution of Kenya, 2010 (Constitute Project), Constitution of Kenya, 2010, art. 9 and Second Schedule (English text), Constitute Project, Second Schedule (a)
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 13, 2026. How we research
Added .