Flag of Western Sahara

Since the disengagement of the Spanish forces in 1976, the Polisario proclaimed the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, as the state that represents the territory. Morocco controls most of the territory and administers it as its Southern Provinces, while the Polisario Front controls the remainder. The flag used in the area contr olled by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic consists of a black, white, and green horizontal tricolor charged with a red star and crescent in the center stripe and a red triangle at the hoist. Morocco uses their national flag, a red flag charged with the Star of Solomon colored in green, in areas they control.

Flag of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic

Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic

Use	National flag
Proportion	1:2
Adopted	February 27, 1976
Design	A black, white, and green horizontal tricolor charged with a red star and crescent in the center stripe and a red triangle at the hoist

The flag of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is a combination of the Pan-Arab colors of black, green, white, and red, and the Islamic symbol of the star and crescent. On 27 February 1976 the flag was adopted as the official flag of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR). It was slightly modified in June 1991. It is said to be designed by El Uali Mustapha Sayed, the first president of the Sahrawi Republic. This flag is commonly referred to as the "flag of Western Sahara".

Description

The flag is a tricolor of three equal horizontal stripes (black, white, and green from top to bottom) overlaid by a red triangle issuing from the hoist. These are the Pan-Arab colors. There is a red star and crescent in the middle stripe.

The flag is extremely similar to the flags of the Baath Party, Jordan, Palestine, and the Arab Federation all of which draw their inspiration from the Arab Revolt against Ottoman rule (1916–1918). Prior to being the flag of Palestine, it was the flag of the short lived Arab Federation of Iraq. The flag of the Arab Revolt had the same graphic form, but the colours were arranged differently (white on the bottom, rather than in the middle).

Its design is based on that of the Palestinian flag, which in turn was derived from the colors used in the Arab Revolt. The star and crescent are considered symbols of Islam, and can be seen on flags of other neighbouring Islamic countries such as Algeria and Mauritania.

Construction sheets

It is not clear whether the flag constructed here has any official status. The 1:2 variant with the star pointing upwards, shown above, is the official one.

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  Construction of the flag

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  Construction of the star and crescent

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  Colors of the flag

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  Resulting flag (2:3 ratio)

Flag of Morocco

Flag of Morocco, used by supporters of Moroccan rule in Western Sahara

Main article: Flag of Morocco

Morocco has not adopted a flag for Western Sahara and uses the national flag of Morocco.

On May 8, 2010, a Moroccan flag with a size of 60,409.78 meters squared, weighing 20 tonnes, was set in Dakhla. It was certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest flag ever draped until it was bested by a Lebanese flag.

History

In the late 19th-century, Western Sahara became a Spanish colony. After the Madrid Accords of 1975, Spain disengaged itself leaving the territory to Morocco and Mauritania, who split the territory, giving two thirds to the former. The Polisario Front rejected this and declared in exile, the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) as the state representing an "independent" Western Sahara.

In 1979, Mauritania signed a peace treaty with the Polisario front, and Morocco annexed the part formerly controlled by Mauritania. A U.N.-brokered ceasefire was signed in 1991 between the two parties, but the sovereignty of the territory remains unresolved pending ongoing peace-talks.

Historical flags

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  Flag of Spain (1843-1873 and 1874-1931)

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  Flag of Spain (1931-1939; Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939)

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  Flag of Spain under Franco (1936-1938; Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939)

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  Flag of Spain under Franco (1938-1945; Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939)

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  Flag of Spain under Franco (1945-1975) and Juan Carlos I (1975-1977)

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  Flag of the Sahrawi National Union Party (1974-1975)

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  The flag of Mauritania was the official flag of Tiris al-Gharbiyya, the part of Western Sahara annexed by Mauritania (1976-1979)

Moroccan regional flags (1976–1997)

In the 1976–1997 provincial division of Morocco, three provinces included parts of Western Sahara. The provinces were, however, reorganized in 1997. Consequently, some of these flags are no longer in official use.

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  Flag of Laayoune province.

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  Flag of Boujdour province.

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  Flag of Dakhla province.

See also

• Flag of Morocco
• Coat of arms of Western Sahara
• Gallery of flags with crescents

External links

• Western Sahara at Flags of the World