Flag of Western Sahara

What the flag of Western Sahara looks like

The flag has three horizontal stripes of equal height: black at the top, white in the middle and green at the bottom. A red triangle sits at the hoist, with its point reaching toward the center of the flag. In the middle of the white stripe is a red crescent with a red five-pointed star placed in its opening. The flag is twice as long as it is tall.

The layout is the same as the flag of Palestine, except for the crescent and star, which Palestine does not have. Both draw on the Pan-Arab colors, so the two are often mistaken for each other at a distance.

Which flag represents Western Sahara?

Western Sahara is a territory in northwest Africa, bordered by Morocco, Algeria and Mauritania. Its political status is disputed, so there is no single flag accepted by all sides. The SADR flag is the one proclaimed by the Polisario Front, the Sahrawi independence movement, and it is flown in the areas the movement controls and in refugee camps near Tindouf, Algeria. It is also the flag that most emoji and flag sets show for the territory. Morocco, which administers most of the territory, uses the Moroccan flag there. The United Nations lists Western Sahara as a non-self-governing territory, and its final status remains unresolved. This page describes the SADR flag as a symbol, without taking a position on that dispute.

Western Sahara flag meaning and symbolism

The colors of the SADR flag are the Pan-Arab colors, black, white, green and red, combined with the Islamic star and crescent. The usual explanation is: green for the Sahrawi people's hope of one day returning to their lands, white for peace and purity, black for anguish and grief for the martyrs, and red for the blood spilled by the martyrs.

The star is said to represent the SADR as an Arab republic and the crescent the Sahrawi Republic as a Muslim country. Both are symbols of Islam and also appear on the flags of neighboring Muslim-majority countries such as Algeria and Mauritania. Red is used for both, which makes them distinct from the plain crescents seen on the flags of Mauritania and other neighbors.

History of the Western Sahara flag

The territory was the Spanish colony known as Spanish Sahara. In 1973 the Polisario Front was founded to fight for independence. Spain withdrew in 1975 under the Madrid Accords, which divided administration between Morocco and Mauritania, a result the Polisario rejected, and fighting followed.

The Polisario Front proclaimed the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic on 27 February 1976, and the flag was adopted at that time. It is said to have been designed by El Uali Mustafa Sayed, the first president of the SADR. Mauritania gave up its claim in 1979. A UN-brokered ceasefire between Morocco and the Polisario came into force in 1991, and the question of a referendum on the territory's future has not been held. Fighting resumed in 2020 after the ceasefire broke down. The SADR flag has not been changed since its adoption. The SADR is recognized by a number of states and is a member of the African Union, while many others, including most Western countries, have not recognized it.