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Use | National flag ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Proportion | 2:3 |
Adopted | 25 October 2001 |
Design | A horizontal tricolour of light blue (double width), yellow and green; charged with a sun-yellow sun in the upper-fly side corner |
Designed by | Alphonse Kirimobenecyo |
Presidential standard | |
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Use | State flag ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Design | Flag of the president of Rwanda |
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d4/Flag_of_Rwanda.jpg/220px-Flag_of_Rwanda.jpg)
The national flag of Rwanda was adopted on 25 October 2001.
Design
editThe flag has three colours: blue, yellow, and green,[1] The light blue band represents happiness and peace, the yellow band symbolizes economic development, and the green band symbolizes the hope of prosperity. The yellow sun with 24 rays represents enlightenment.[2]
The current flag of Rwanda – whose colours resemble those of the flag of Gabon – represents national unity, respect for work, heroism, and confidence in the future.[3] According to the state's official rationale, the flag was adopted (along with a new national anthem at the time) to avoid connotations to the 1994 genocide which it stated the previous one embodied.[4] However, some Rwandans at the time expressed doubts about the reasoning and viewed it as an attempt by the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front to express its political power by changing state symbols.[5] The flag was designed by Alphonse Kirimobenecyo.[6]
For vertical display of the flag, the Rwandan Olympic Committee has approved showing the obverse of the flag (rotated clockwise 90 degrees.)[1]
Previous flag
editRwanda's previous flag was a red-yellow-green tricolour with a large black letter "R" (to distinguish it from the otherwise identical flag of Guinea, with the "R" indicating that Rwanda is a republic established through revolution and referendum). Derived from the flag of Ethiopia, the colours green, yellow, and red represented peace, the nation's hope for its development, and the people. The colours were associated with Pan-African colours. The flag was changed because it ostensibly became associated with the brutality of the 1994 genocide.[4][2] However, some Rwandans at the time expressed doubts about the stated reasoning and viewed this change to the flag as merely part of an attempt by the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front to assert its political power by changing established state symbols.[7]
Gallery
edit-
Flag of the German East Africa Company, flown by early German colonial entrepreneurs in the East African region
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Proposed flag of German East Africa which was never used due to the flag being proposed shortly before the outbreak of World War I and Germany's colonies being taken by other European powers after the war
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Flag used after the coup of Gitarama (1961) by the republican government during the last year of the Kingdom of Rwanda[8][9]
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Flag of Rwanda (25 September 1961 – 24 October 2001). The official reason given for the 2001 change was to avoid negative connotations associated with the 1994 genocide, although this is disputed by some and used by Rwandese communists.
References
edit- ^ a b Flags and Anthems Manual: London 2012 (PDF). London, United Kingdom: London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. 2012. p. 88. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 January 2015. Retrieved 4 January 2015.
- ^ a b "Flags of the World: Rwanda". CRW Flags of the World. 20 November 2013. Archived from the original on 9 February 2013. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
- ^ "The Flag of Rwanda". flagdb.com. Archived from the original on 17 May 2024. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
- ^ a b Vesperini, Helen (31 December 2001). "Rwanda unveils new flag and anthem". BBC. Archived from the original on 5 November 2003. Retrieved 5 November 2003.
- ^ Burnet, Jennie E. (19 November 2012). Genocide Lives in Us: Women, Memory, and Silence in Rwanda. ISBN 9780299286439. Archived from the original on 27 May 2024. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
- ^ "Flags of Africa — Countries Starting with R". Archived from the original on 23 November 2010. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
- ^ Burnet, Jennie E. (19 November 2012). Genocide Lives in Us: Women, Memory, and Silence in Rwanda. ISBN 9780299286439. Archived from the original on 27 May 2024. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
- ^ Nyrop 1969, p. 23.
- ^ "What Could Have Motivated The 1961 Gitarama Coup In Rwanda?". Taarifa. 6 November 2018. Archived from the original on 7 October 2021. Retrieved 22 September 2021.
- Nyrop, Richard F.; et al. (1969). Area Handbook for Rwanda. U.S. Government Printing Office. OCLC 905626482.
External links
edit- Media related to Flags of Rwanda at Wikimedia Commons
Rwanda Category:National symbols of Rwanda Rwanda Rwanda Rwanda Category:Flags displaying a sun