🇸🇴 The colours of Somalia

Somalia’s flag features a pale blue field with a white five-pointed star at its centre. The blue recalls the United Nations’ role in Somalia’s path to statehood, while the star symbolises unity among Somalis across five regions. Today, the flag stands for both national identity and the wider Somali people.

Where no official value is given, the swatch shows the colour family, not the exact shade.

• The flag was designed by Mohammed Awale Liban in 1954.
• The white star represents five Somali-majority regions.
• Blue was chosen to thank the United Nations.
• The flag is banned in Somaliland since 1991.
• The flag is a symbol for all Somali people, not just the state.

The colours of the flag of Somalia

Somalia’s flag is made up of a light blue background with a single white star in the middle. The blue was picked to acknowledge the United Nations, which played a key part in Somalia’s move towards independence in the 1950s. The white star has five points, each one representing a region where Somali people form the majority: Djibouti, Somaliland, the Somali region in Ethiopia, the North Eastern Province in Kenya, and Somalia itself. Officially, the blue now also stands for the sky and the seas around Somalia. The meaning of the star and the colour blue is recognised both officially and by the Somali people.

How the colours were chosen of Somalia

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Somali-inhabited areas were split among several colonial powers. After 1950, when the United Nations set up a trust territory in what is now Somalia, local leaders began to push for a national flag. The Somali Youth League, the main political group, wanted to use their own flag, but this was not accepted by other parties. Eventually, scholar Mohammed Awale Liban designed a new flag, which was approved in 1954. The same flag was briefly used by the State of Somaliland before the formation of the Somali Republic.

Official shades and rules of Somalia

There are no official shade codes or proportions given for the flag’s colours in the sources. The design is simple: a light blue field with a white five-pointed star at the centre. In Somaliland, public display of the Somali flag is banned, but in some areas like SSC-Khatumo, it is still used.