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Western Sahara

Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic

Last modified: 2005-04-09 by antónio martins
Keywords: western sahara | sahara | sahrawi arab democratic republic | sadr | crescent (red) | crescent: points to fly | pan-arab colors | polisario front | different reverse | map |
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[Flag of Western Sahara]
by Željko Heimer, 01 Jan 2004 | [two-sided] [sinister]

See also:

About the Flag

Significance and origin

Flag adopted 27 February 1976, state emblem adopted 1976, modified June 1991.
Nozomi Kariyasu,

The flag (designed by the Frente Polisario) is inverted in nature. The black (on top) represents death, the green represents life, the white represents peace.
Brent Overton, 24 Jan 2000

The flag of the SADR follows the pan-Arab colours and is similar to the PLO flag [now the flag of the Palestine Authority, ed.], with the addition of a crescent and star on the white stripe.
Stuart Notholt, 09 Feb 1996

POLISARIO was originally closely aligned with the Algerian regime. So it is quite likely that the SADR flagʼs star and crescent would be like that of the Algerian flag.
Stuart Notholt, 09 Feb 1996

The POLISARIO flag and the SADR flag are the same. When Polisario proclaimed the SADR their own flag was hoisted.
Jaume Ollé, 23 Aug 1998

Design

[Flag constr. of Western Sahara]
by Željko Heimer, 01 Jan 2004 | [two-sided] [sinister]

The proportions are 1:2. The height of the triangle is equal to 1/3 the length of the flag. The centre of the circle which creates the outer arc of the crescent is in the exact centre of the flag. The diameter of the circles which create the outer and inner arcs of the crescent are equal to 5/7 the width of the central stripe. The centre point of the circle containing the star is to be found on an imaginary line connecting the horns of the crescent, and has a diameter equal to 4/5 the distance between the horns of the crescent. The centre points of the circles which create the crescent and place the star are equidistant along the horizontal meridian. (From a document issued by the Protocol Section of the Office of the President of the Republic in June 1987. The image above is my interpretation of the official figures for Western Sahara, although flags in practice almost certainly donʼt follow them.)
Christopher Southworth, 01 Jan 2004

This does not quite define the distance between the two circles determining the crescent, but from the sketches he sent me together with the above, it seems obvious that the distance is 1/6 of the diameter of each of the circles. (The center of the circle defining the star is, by virtue of construction requists that it lays on the same line as the hrons of the crescent, exactly at the midpoint between the two circles defining the crescent.)
Željko Heimer, 01 Jan 2004

History of the Western Sahara

Before Spanish Sahara was a unified province it was divided in two provinces, the Saguiat el-Hamra (the "SA" of "polisario"… and the "EH" of the ISO country code) and Rio de Oro (the "RIO"). The "POLI" means "por la liberación" ("for the liberation"). Spanish Sahara was also known as Spanish West Africa, but that one included other bits like Ifni (to Morocco in 1969), Cape Juby (the southernmost part of Morocco not including WS) and La Aguera.
Joŕn-Francés Blanc, 16 Nov 1999

When the Spanish pulled out of this territory in 1976, it was partitioned between Morocco, which took the larger part, and Mauritania. Local nationalists of the POLISARIO movement proclaimed the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic on 27 February 1976.
Stuart Notholt, 09 Feb 1996

The Polisario Flag was at first a party flag. When Spanish troops yielded control of the country to Morroco (Marcha verde), Polisario proclaimed the SADR on 27 February and hoisted same flag (like FLNA and Algeria). At that time the SADR would be a single party country and logically the identification between party symbol and state symbol was total. More than half of Africa (and many others countries in the world) recognized SADR and it was accepted in the African Union Organization. The SADR-POLISARIO flag was very popular and no change was ever proposed.
Jaume Ollé , 20 Nov 1999

The United Nations now seem to accept a new plan concerning the political future of Western Sahara. Since Morocco and POLISARIO have not been able to reach an accord on a self-determination referendum (the problem is who is allowed to vote in this predominantly nomadic region), UN will prefer to postpone the decision, form an autonomous region within Morocco, and (maybe) organize the referendum in five years.
Jan Zrzavy, 26 June 2001

Legal issues

From the Association de soutien ŕ un référendum libre et régulier au Sahara Occidental (Western Sahara) newsletter:

On the eve of the anniversary of the Polisario Front, threats and intimidations against Saharawi activists increased in the occupied territories and southern Morocco, the police looking for leaflets and Saharawi flags.

An example:

20.05.03 - An emissary of the pacha of El Ayoun paid a visit to a Saharawi defender of human rights, Lidri Elhoucine, to ask him to go to the office of the pacha, which Lidri refused because there was no official summons. The same evening the pacha himself, who was following Lidri in his car, told him he knew about his “separatist” activities. The pacha threatened him with arrest if the Polisario flags, which he was accused of possessing, were distributed. Lidri is a professor of philosophy, a member of the former executive of the Forum for Truth and Justice in El Ayoun, his name figures on the list of 18 Saharawis accused in the case concerning the dissolution of the FVJ Sahara section.

Zane Whitehorn, 24 May 2003

Reverse of the Flag


 [Rev. of flag of Western Sahara]
by Željko Heimer, 01 Jan 2004 | [two-sided] [reverse] [sinister]

I saw a Western Sahara flag that had the crescent and star only on [what we might at first call] the reverse. Of course this may be interpreted as:

  • the flag was hoisted upside down; or
  • the flag was a sinister-hoist version (which I guess is the correct one, this being an Arab country), whereby the “main” side is what is considered the reverse in western countries.
Santiago Dotor, 07 Sep 2000

"Obverse" means "main side" (and thus "reverse" means "secondary side"), usually the side shown in construction sheets and other flag depictions, the side where inscriptions or emblems are applied (when these are applied on one side only), the side turned outwards when the flag is arranged for indoor limp display, etc. Usually, in left to right cultures the obverse is the side with the hoist at the viewerʼs left hand ("dexter hoisted"), and in right to left cultures the obverse is the side with the hoist at the viewer's right hand ("sinister hoisted").

This being so, and considering that the flag spotted by Santiago looked like this 

o________    ________o
|\_______|  |_______/|
| )______|  |__*)__( |
|/_______|  |_______\|
|                    |
|                    |
then the flag is indeed sinister hoisted and has a different reverse (no emblem). The obverse is the side showing the emblem — because it shows the emblem.
António Martins, 07 Sep 2000

Future (?) flag, after independence

[Flag of Western Sahara]
by Željko Heimer, 01 Jan 2004 | [two-sided] [sinister]

When the Polisario gain independence after a referendum and are recognized as a “true country” the green will go on top and the black will go to the bottom.
Brent Overton, 24 Jan 2000

Alternative depictions

map for emblem

[Flag of Western Sahara]
by António Martins, 12 Jul 2004 | [two-sided] [sinister]

I believe the flag with a map of the Western Sahara in the center is fictional.
Jaume Ollé, 20 Nov 1999

What was this flag? Some non-islamic Saharawi fraction of supporter movement?
António Martins, 12 Jul 2004