The flag of Western Sahara belongs to the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, the state the Polisario Front declared in 1976 and which controls part of the territory. It is a Pan-Arab tricolor with a red star and crescent, and it has flown over an unresolved dispute for half a century.
Adopted in the gap Spain left
The Polisario Front adopted the flag in 1976, in the middle of the conflict that followed Spain's withdrawal from the territory during decolonization. That withdrawal left competing claims from Morocco and Mauritania. The Polisario Front declared the SADR and raised the flag as a claim of its own.
The design has stayed essentially unchanged since, though alternative versions have surfaced among various Sahrawi groups. It has been carried at events and protests through decades of negotiations and international talks over the territory's status.
Design and symbolism
Three horizontal stripes run black at the top, white in the middle and green at the bottom, with a red triangle at the hoist pointing towards the fly and a red star and crescent inside it.
Black is the struggles the Sahrawi people have been through. White is peace. Green is Islam and Sahrawi cultural identity. The red triangle carries both socialism and the martyrdom of those who died in the fight for independence, and the star and crescent restate the Islamic element.
Where it flies
The flag is the official flag of the SADR, used across the areas the Polisario Front administers and in the liberated territories under partial SADR control. It is a common sight in the Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria, where a large displaced population lives, and Sahrawi representatives fly it at international forums.
Display protocols follow those of other national flags. Design variations are rare.
Pan-Arab influences
The flag shares its palette with other Pan-Arab flags and is closest to the Palestinian flag, a similarity that reads as solidarity with other Arab claims to statehood. The design draws on the Arab Liberation Movement of the mid-20th century and on the conventions of Maghrebi flags.
The flag in Sahrawi life
The flag turns up at festivals, protests and public gatherings, and among Sahrawis living outside the territory. Its colors and emblems recur in Sahrawi art, literature and music, where they carry the argument for independence into work that is not political on its face.