Flag of Djibouti

What the flag of Djibouti looks like

The flag of Djibouti is divided into two horizontal bands of equal height. The upper band is light blue and the lower band is light green. A white equilateral triangle sits at the hoist, with its base along the pole and its tip reaching toward the middle of the flag. In the center of the triangle is a red five-pointed star. The flag has a ratio of 2:3.

The triangle is fairly large, so the blue and green bands are visible mostly toward the fly. The shade of blue is a sky color rather than a navy blue, which helps tell the flag apart from many others.

Djibouti flag meaning and symbolism

The meaning of the Djibouti flag is simple to remember and is widely repeated:

• Light blue stands for the sea and the sky. It is also associated with the Issa people, a Somali clan.
• Green stands for the earth and for nature. It is also associated with the Afar people, the other main community of Djibouti.
• White stands for peace.
• The red star stands for unity, and is also said to remember the blood shed for independence.

The link between the blue and green bands and the two communities is a common reading, though it is not part of a legal definition. Some sources add that the five points of the star refer to the five regions inhabited by Somali people, in line with the star on the flag of Somalia. This reading is disputed and is not an official explanation.

History of the Djibouti flag

The territory was a French colony from the late 19th century, first called French Somaliland and, from 1967, the French Territory of the Afars and Issas. During this time the French tricolor was the official flag. Pro-independence movements, notably the African People's League for Independence, used a blue and green banner with a white triangle and red star, which is the origin of the present flag.

After a referendum in 1977, Djibouti became independent on 27 June, and this design was adopted as the national flag. It has stayed the same since. The flag is flown by the government, the armed forces and at sea, and appears on public buildings and during celebrations of Independence Day.