^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website}

Angola 2003 proposal

2:3~ by Pascal Gross, 27 Aug 2003
adopted 27 Aug 2003 - not ratified!

2003 Proposal
Adoption in 2005

See also:

2003 Proposal

Luanda, 27 Aug 2003 - The National Assembly`s Constitutional Commission, an organ in charge of drafting the country`s next Constitutional Bill, on Wednesday, here, selected the the new national symbols (Flag, Anthem and Insignia). The Coat of Arms has remained unchanged - the words in the national anthem changed, not the music.
The results were announced during a Press conference which took place in the headquartes of the Constitutional Commission, a meeting that was chaired by the deputy, João Lourenço.
Angola`s future National Flag adopted today in Luanda by the National Assembly`s (parliament) Constitutional Commission tasked to draft the country`s new constitution has a rectangular shape measuring 180 centimetres long and 120 centimetres wide, divided in five horizontal strips.
The top and bottom strips are dark blue, measuring 20 centimetres wide each. The two intermediate strips are white with 10 centimetres wide each, whereas the central one measuring 60 centimetres of width is blood-red.
The middle red strip carries the picture of a 15-ray yellowish sun comprising three irregular concentric circles inspired on the ancestral Tchitundo-Hulu rocks paintings of the country`s Southwestern Namibe province.
The meanings of the future National Flag was explained by ruling MPLA party deputy, Ana Maria de Oliveira, who coordinated the sub-commission for the National Symbols.
The blue strips represent Freedom, Justice and Solidarity whereas the white ones stand for Peace, Unity and Harmony.
The red strip represents Sacrifice, tenacity and heroism, whereas the sun represents the historical and cultural identity and the riches of Angola.
The tender for the flag was won by the candidate under the nickname of "Catica", whose proposal was numbered 106.
According to the contest regulation, the winner is entitled to a medal and an amount in the local currency equivalent to USD 20.000.
Source: AngolaPress.
Antonio Teixeira, 27 Aug 2003

From what I understand what has been announced by the national symbols committee is the winner of the competition for a new flag of Angola. The old symbols, both flag and arms, will continue in use until the constituent assembly can agree on a constitution in which the new national symbols will be described. Hopefully, our Portuguese speaking correspondents can clarify the matter, but it seems to me the new flag will have to wait before being run up the flagpoles.
Jan Oskar Engene, 28 Aug 2003

I say you are absolutely correct. This is just a project, still waiting for a new constitution to be institutionalized. That, as we all know, can take years to be implemented.
So, there is no new flag of Angola just yet.
Jorge Candeias, 28 Aug 2003

Uije Citizens Refute Change of Country's Flag
Angola Press Agency (Luanda)
September 6, 2003

A crowd of citizens in Angola's Northern Uije province gathered on Friday here to demonstrate against the new flag choosen by the Parliament's Constitutional Commission of the National Assembly (Angolan Parliament).
In a survey carried out by Angop, some interviewed people defended the maintenance of the current national symbols, and others said the flag to be adopted represents nothing to the Angolan people.
According to Eliás Kutuila, a civil servant, the colours of the choosen flag "do not go in accordance with the country's historical
background". Some people back substantial changes of the flag but without "neglecting the history of Angola".
The citizen Pedro Augusto said there are lots of countries in the world that have gone through situations like the Angolan one but did not change their national symbols".
Another citizen said the flag "they want to impose upon us has no any historical meaning, whereas the previous one describes the suffering of the Angolan people (blood and sorrow) plus the country's fortunes".
Antonio Teixeira, 11 Sep 2003

I wouldn't call "survey" to a few interviews made to people protesting against a flag. Angop, for those who do not know, is the
angolan press agency, still not quite independent from MPLA influence. So, all this tells us is that there are people in Angola who do not like that proposed flag, as would be expected. It says nothing about numbers, how majoritary or minoritary that opposition really is.
Speculating, and considering similar cases in other countries, I do suspect it to be majoritary: there are those that prefer the current flag for political reasons, those that don't like the proposal because they'd prefer some other design (and several ideas have necessarilly been put forward, informally), those that don't like it because they consider it ugly, etc.
Jorge Candeias, 11 Sep 2003

I completely agree that these are not scientific surveys but they might be the closest we will come to them. So here goes another
article about another "survey". But I find it interesting to listen to the reasons for disliking the new flag, some of which are in line
with what was already discussed here.

Public Opinion Disagrees On New National Symbols
Angola Press Agency (Luanda)
September 4, 2003

Several citizens disagreed today with the new national symbols (Flag, Anthem and Insignia), chosen last week by the National Assembly's Constitutional Commission; The citizens manifested their discontent during the programme of the State-run Angolan National Radio (RNA) "Manh? Informativa" (Informative Morning).
Among the chosen symbols, which took three years to analyse, the citizens manifested more sceptical about the new flag proposal, defending that the country should adopt an exclusive flag, which is not the case of the one that has been chosen, since it is very
similar to the flags of several countries and is not exclusive in terms of colours. During the phone-in session, callers said things
such as "You deputies (MP's) will not copy a flag from other countries (...)".
One of the callers, José Quipungo, a bishop of the United Methodist Church, considers that in the Hall of Nations, the present national flag is not similar to that of any other country, therefore, it should not be changed "Just like that".
He stressed that the chosen flag, both the colours and the configuration, does not represent any patriotic or nationalistic feeling for Angolans. "Perhaps it represents the present political sentiment", he said.
Another caller, Mateus Bimbi, is of the opinion that since the deputies are always complaining about the lack of democracy, in this
specific case they should show their democratic attitude, by letting people choose. "It is as if they are denying the greatest symbol of our independence, which means, renouncing our independence".
Ana Bela who also phoned the programme said that the deputies are being too hasty, because Angola is just coming out of a war situation and there are still a lot of important things to do, therefore, some more time should be given so that the various artists that the country has may work more calmly on a more complete flag, a well designed one.
In the opinion of Manuela Santana, a popular consultation, regarding the flag, should be carried out, because the sovereignty rests on the people. "It is necessary to find a flag which people can identify with, because the one that has been chosen does not represent anything for us. Angola has always had a bright son".
Meanwhile, the guests to the radio programme, deputies Jerónimo Wanga (UNITA) and Anália Pereira (PLD), are of the opinion that the referred flag, chosen by the constitutional commission, represents neutrality.
As regard the similarity with the flag of Costa Rica, the PLD deputy explained that the commission did not define criteria for the public contest from which they got the chosen proposal, allowing contestants to design their flags as they pleased. "That is why we did not have a lot of choice", she said.
However, the MP's assured that the people will have a say, before the symbols are finally approved by the National Assembly. The new national anthem to be approved will keep the melody of the present one with a few changes to the word. A lot of the callers in the radio programme also think that the anthem should only change the lines referring to the ruling party's official date for the start of the armed struggle against colonialism (February 4), since the other historical parties advocate different dates.
The Constitutional Commission has also agreed to keep the country's present Insignia.
The Parliament's Constitutional Commission, made up of members of all the political parties seated in the National Assembly (Parliament), is in charge of drafting the next Constitutional Bill to be approved before the next elections.
Antonio Teixeira, 11 Sep 2003

Details on the new proposed flag of Angola can be found at this webpage. As supplied by Mello Luchtenberg.
My Portuguese is extremely basic, but it seemed to me that the flag (and presumably the arms as well) was still a "proposal" rather than the new flag of Angola ( at least as yet)?
Christopher Southworth, 27 Nov 2003

Yes, the flag is a proposal until a new constitution gets approved. But that whole thing is quite inconsistent. If you check the page of the "SUB-COMISSÃO DE TRABALHO PARA OS SÍMBOLOS DA REPÚBLICA" (working subcommission for the symbols of the Republic) you can read the internal regulations of that organism where is expressed that "A Sub-Comissão da trabalho para so Símbolos da República tem por objecto o apuramento de três propostas de cada um dos Símbolos Nacionais, submetidos a concurso pela Comissão Constitucional." (the working subcommission for the symbols of the Republic has the purpose of electing three proposals for each National Symbol, submitted to contest by the Constitutional Commission). And yet, only one final proposal for flag is known and no proposals for a new hymn or COA are known.
That whole thing is a bit bizarre, if you ask me...
OTOH, in the page about the proposals for the national symbols, you get a long list of names (and respective provinces) and no proposals at all. I assume (because it's written nowhere) that these are the names of those people that put forward flag proposals. I also see one name with a differently coloured background. Number 106, Katica, from Luanda, is probably the author of the proposed flag.
Jorge Candeias, 27 Nov 2003

Adoption in 2005

On August 28, 2003 the Constitutional Commission charged with drafting Angola's new constitution and proposing new national symbols, released to the public its proposed new flag for the Republic of Angola.
The proposed flag, measuring 180 cm long and 120 cm wide, is divided into five horizontal bands. The top and bottom bands are dark blue and represent freedom, justice and solidarity. The two intermediate bands are white and signify peace, unity and harmony. The center band is red representing sacrifice, tenacity and heroism. In the middle of the red band is a 15-ray yellow sun comprised of three irregular concentric circles. The image is inspired by rock paintings in the desert cave of Tchitundo-Hulu in Namibe Province. The sun symbolizes the historical and cultural identity and the riches of Angola
The proposed flag and new national anthem will be formally adopted after general elections, scheduled for 2005. The constitutional commission has recommended that the the Angolan insignia remain unchanged.
Source: this webpage.
Carlos Sousa, 11 Nov 2003

Concerning the not yet new flag of Angola, Pascal Vagnat found a recent update:
The draft of the future Constitution of Angola shall be presented to the Constitution Commission of the National Assembly next Tuesday. Provided that the original wire (from < http://www.angola.org > was dated 23 January 2004, the draft must have been presented on 26 January 2004.
The Commission shall discuss the draft before its adoption. A public consultation shall also be set up.
The draft of the Constitution includes the new flag proposal.
We can consider that another step was probably made towards the change of the national flag of Angola.
Ivan Sache, 8 Feb 2004