Last modified: 2005-05-28 by Željko heimer
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First flag of independent Sudan, blue over yellow over green tricolour was adopted 1 January 1956. Ratio 1:2.
Jaume Ollé, 3-MAR-1996
There was a hijacking of a Sudanese airliner to Stansted airport here in England recently. In one newspaper report there was a colour photo of the airliner on the ground at the airport, and whilst it had the current Sudanese flag (in the "Arab Revolt" colours of red, white, green and black) painted on the fuselage by the cockpit, the "flash" (or what I believe is called the "cheat line") of the airline's livery along the length of the aircraft was clearly in the colours of the old blue over yellow over green flag used from independence in 1956 until 1970.
Roy Stilling, 3-SEP-1996
Try to see my page about Sudan in Historical Flags.Jaume Olle, 17 October 1998
I have 1959 rather than 1956 for the adoption date of the tricolour, but since I don't have an original copy of the law it could well be a misprint?
Christopher Southworth, 30 December 2003Pre-1969 war ensign was white with the national flag in canton.
Jaume Ollé, 3-MAR-1996
Source - Barraclough, Flags of the World (1969).
Paige Herring, 24 May 1998
My source (including a black and white illustration) is Carr 1961 [car61], p. 250.
It shows much thicker red lines, so that the white ones are a fimbriation.
Santiago Dotor, 15 April 2003.
by Jaume Ollé, 03 October 1999
The Governor General's personal flag when afloat was the Union Jack with the standard white disc and laurel leaf garland and
GOVERNOR GENERAL OF THE SUDANon the white disc.
David Prothero, 30 September 1999
During the Anglo-Egyptian condominium there was no flag for Sudan, but the two flags (Union Jack and Egyptian) were used at all places. The Egyptian flag changed three times: until 1914 it was red with a crescent and star (as for the Ottoman); during 1914-1923 it was red with three crescents and three stars; and during 1923-1954 it was green with one crescent and three stars. I believe that the condominium finished in 1956 but the blue-yellow-green flag of Sudan was hoisted in 1954. W. Smith's 1975 book has a photo of the two flags with the following text: 'Therefore the flags of these two countries were flown jointly, with the Union Jack always taking precedence - except in the city of Suakin, where Egyptian flag flew alone'. Why was Suakin an exception?
Željko Heimer, 6-OCT-1996
In my Allers Illustrerede Konversations-Leksikon, Copenhagen 1906-10, I found an article on Suakin. It seems that the city itself (lying on an island) belonged to Egypt, while the hinterland and the mainland town, El Kef (Gef), belonged to Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. I don't know when Suakin became Sudanese...Ole Andersen, 4 January 1999
I can say that the Egyptian constitution of 1948 prepared the way for incorporate Sudan.Jaume Ollé, 3 October 1999
Some years ago I saw a movie about the Mahdiya revolution and I seem to recall that a black flag with white Shahada (or white flag with black Shahada) was used. Does someone know if the flag in the movie was the mere imagination of the director or really the flag of the Mahdi?
Jaume Ollé, 4-MAR-1996
Indeed, the flag of the Mahdi is always said to be black. Since the colors have a deeper religious meaning, any white flag should be out of question (my guess). It is, however, an Arab tradition to write religious statements on flags. So, for once, the flags in the movie could very well have had a historical background.
Harald Müller, 5-AUG-1996
G.W. Steevens in his With Kitchener to Khartoum refers to a few Mahdist flags. At the battle of Omdurman, he mentions the "black banner of the Kahlifa's brother" and the "blue and white banners of his son". Khalifa Abduallah el Taashi was successor to the Mahdi. War artist H.C. Seppings Wright (who was at the battle of Ombdurman, I think) has done a painting of the aftermath of the massacre in which the dead Mahdists are still holding upright the Kahlifa's black flag.
T.F. Mills, 6-AUG-1996
by Mark Sensen, 6-AUG-1996I have a copy of a letter (11 September 1952) from the Sudan Government Civil Secretary's Office, Public Relations Branch to Dr Ottried Neubecker with a drawing of the Mahdists' flag hoisted over the party headquarters, regarded as the standard version: horizontal black-red-green, with a white crescent (points upward) and spear overall in the center. Another version had the crescent and spear in the black stripe at the fly.
Mark Sensen, 6-AUG-1996
Jaume Ollé, 19-NOV-1996
Jaume Ollé, 3 October 1999