Flag of Sudan

Flag history

Flags of the Mahdists

In 1881, at the beginning of the Mahdist War, self-proclaimed Mahdi, Muhammad Ahmad appointed Abdallahi ibn Muhammad as one of his four caliphs and handed him a black flag. Abdallahi used his black flag to recruit Baggara Arabs and other tribes from the west. The other caliphs used different coloured flags. The black horizontal stripe in the current Sudanese flag is a reference to this Mahdist-era black flag.

File:Flag of the Mahdi movement in Sudan.svg|Flag used during the Mahdist Revolt and in Mahdist Sudan (1881–1899) File:Banner, declaration of faith and allegiance to Allah. Sudanese Mahdist Army, Omdurman, 1889. The Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. Given by Miss Victoria MacBean.jpg|Banner used by the Mahdist Army; captured at Omdurman in 1898. File:Black flag.svg|The black standard was also used in Mahdist Sudan

Anglo-Egyptian Sudan

Between 1899 and 1956, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan was administered jointly as a condominium by Egypt and the United Kingdom. The condominium did not have its own flag; instead the flag of Egypt and the flag of the United Kingdom were always flown together, with the British flag taking precedence.

A flag did exist as a rank flag for the British Governor General of the Sudan. In common with the rank flags of governors and commissioners of other British overseas territories, it consisted of a Union Flag defaced with a white disk bearing the territory's badge or coat of arms, surrounded by a wreath of laurel. As no badge or coat of arms existed for Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, the disk instead contained the words "GOVERNOR GENERAL OF THE SUDAN".

At the Afro–Asian Conference held between 18 and 24 April 1955, Sudan was represented by a white flag bearing the name "SUDAN" in red capital letters.

File:Flag of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan (1914–1922).png|Flags used in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan (1914–1922) File:Flag of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan.svg|Flags used in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan (1922–1956) File:Flag of the Governor-General of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan.svg|Flag of the British Governor General File:Flag of the Sudan Defense Force (1925-1956).svg|Flag of the Sudan Defence Force (1925–1956) File:Flag of Sudan (Bandung Conference).svg|Flag used to represent Sudan at the Afro-Asian Conference (April 1955)

Republic of Sudan (1956–1969)

Upon the independence of the Republic of Sudan from Anglo-Egyptian rule on 1 January 1956, Sudan adopted a blue-yellow-green tricolour as its national flag.

The flag was designed by the poet Macki Sufi and remained in use until 1970, when the current flag was adopted. The colours of the flag represented the River Nile (blue), the Sahara (yellow) and farmlands (green). They were chosen as they were neutral between ethnic groups and political parties.

Use of this flag resurfaced during the 2018–19 Sudanese protests. The president of the Transitional Sovereignty Council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, proposed readopting the blue-yellow-green tricolour in December 2025 in the midst of the Sudanese civil war (2023–present).

File:Flag of Sudan (1956–1970, 2-3).svg|Flag of the Republic of the Sudan 2-3 ratio (1956–1969) File:Naval Ensign of Sudan (1956-1970).svg|Naval ensign (1956–1970) File:Ensign of the Sudanese Customs Service (1956-1970).svg|Customs ensign (1956–1970)

Democratic Republic of Sudan (1969–1985) and Republic of Sudan (1985–present)

Following a coup d'état in May 1969, the country was renamed the Democratic Republic of Sudan and a competition was held to design a new flag. The winning entry was designed by artist based on pan-Arab colours and was adopted as the national flag in May 1970.

Whereas there is no fixed order for the Pan-Arab Colours of black, white, red, and green, flags using the Arab Liberation Colours (a subset of the Pan-Arab Colours) maintain a horizontal triband of equal stripes of red, white, and black, with green being used to distinguish the different flags from each other by way of green stars, Arabic script, or, in the case of Sudan, the green triangle along the hoist. In the original Arab Liberation Flag, green was used in the form of the flag of the Kingdom of Egypt and Sudan emblazoned on the breast of the Eagle of Saladin in the middle stripe.

File:Flag of Sudan.svg|Flag of the Democratic Republic of Sudan (1970–1985) File:Standard of the President of the Democratic Republic of the Sudan (variant).svg|Standard of the president of the Democratic Republic of Sudan(1970–1985) File:Presidential Standard of Sudan.svg|Flag of the President of the Sudan (1985–present) File:Ensign of the Sudanese Customs Service.svg|Ensign of the Sudanese Customs Service File:Naval Ensign of Sudan.svg|Naval ensign (1985–present) File:Air Force Ensign of Sudan.svg|Air Force ensign (1970–present)

Design and symbolism

According to World Flags 101:

;Construction sheet |File:Flag of Sudan (construction sheet).svg|Flag construction sheet

Colour scheme

The specified colours are as follows:

Sub-national flags

The sub-national flags usually consist of the state's emblem displayed on a white or coloured background. Some of the states of Sudan have adopted their own distinctive flags, usually their state emblem on a green or white background.

States

Flag of Blue Nile State.png|Blue Nile State Flag of Central Darfur State.png|Central Darfur Flag of North Darfur State.png|North Darfur Flag of South Darfur State.png|South Darfur Flag of West Darfur State.png|West Darfur File:Flag of Kassala Wilayyah.svg|Kassala State Flag of Khartoum Wilayah.png|Khartoum State Seal of River Nile State.png|River Nile State Flag of Al Qadarif State.png|Al Qadarif State

Administrative areas

Flag of the Abyei Area.png|Abyei Area

Former provincial flags

File:Flag of North Kurdufan.svg|Kordofan

References

References

1. Hill, Richard Leslie. (1967). "A Biographical Dictionary of the Sudan". Routledge.
2. Featherstone, Donald F.. (1993). "Khartoum 1885: General Gordon's Last Stand". Osprey Publishing.
3. Fadlalla, Mohamed Hassan. (2005). "The Problem of Dar Fur". iUniverse.
4. "Sudan - Historical flags". Flagspot.net.
5. (21 April 2015). "Days of Struggle".
6. Shimazu, Naoko. (October 2011). "'Diplomacy as Theatre': Recasting the Bandung Conference of 1955 as Cultural History".
7. سودانية, ثقافة. (1 July 2018). "Sudan's first flag, during the 1st conference of the Non-Alignment Movement in Bandung in 1955, Indonesia #SudaneseCulture #ثقافة_سودانيةpic.twitter.com/idxrMoTwnD".
8. Isnaeni, Hendri F.. (20 April 2015). "Sudan Belum Merdeka, Benderanya Sudah Berkibar di KAA".
9. (28 December 2018). "علم غير مألوف يرفعه السودانيون في التظاهرات.. ما قصته؟".
10. "Sudan - Historical flags". Flagspot.net.
11. "sudan rb".
12. (13 April 2014). "Independence Sudan (1956)".
13. (27 December 2018). "Why is the First and Former Flag of Sudan Resurfacing on Social Media?".
14. Hashim, Mohanad. (5 May 2019). "The art fuelling Sudan's revolution". BBC News.
15. (19 April 2019). "Flying the flag for Sudan – what flag is that?".
16. (28 April 2019). "Breakthrough agreement between Sudan protest leaders, military".
17. Amir Ahmed, Mohammed Tawfeeq and Tamara Qiblawi. "Sudan celebrates end of stand-off between military leaders and opposition".
18. "بورتسودان: ١-٢٣-٢٠٢٥م كلمة رئيس مجلس السيادة القائد العام للقوات المسلحة - تأبين شهداء حركة جيش تحرير السودان".
19. "البرهان: نقدم مقترحاً لإرجاع علم السودان القديم الذي رفعه أجدادنا وآباؤنا في زمن الاستقلال".
20. "Al-Burhan Calls for Return to Sudan’s Independence Flag, Rejects Any Deal Keeping the RSF Intact - Al-Yurae".
21. (2019-08-09). "علم السريرة بت مكي ورمزيته .. بقلم: عواطف عبداللطيف".
22. "Sudan Flag". Moxy Media.
23. "Sudanese Provincial and State flags".
24. "Central Darfur governor lauds Transitional Sovereignty Council VP's efforts to maintain peace and stability".
25. (16 October 2020). "Darfur Govs discuss security and peace".
26. (24 March 2022). "South Darfur governor receives results of the investigation committee".
27. (16 January 2020). "Photo of the Day- 16 January 2020".
28. (30 May 2019). "Sudan: Governor of Kassala State Affirms Strength of Sudanese Eritrean Relations".
29. "The governors of River Nile and South Darfur state affirm that the unity of Sudanese society is stronger than conspiracies".
30. [https://www.fotw.info/images/s/sd-gadar.jpg Image] fotw.info {{Webarchive. link. (11 August 2022)
31. "Abyei Special Administrative Area".