Last modified: 2018-02-16 by bruce berry
Keywords: zaire | congo | mobutu | torch |
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by Martin Grieve, 27 Dec 2009
Article 4: The emblem of the Republic is a light green flag, ornamented in the centre with a yellow circle in which a right hand is holding a torch with a red flame.This flag was adopted on 19th November 1971 when the parliament adopted Loi no. 71-007 du 19 novembre 1971 portant revision de la Constitution.
In the first week of August 1992 there was already a legal move to
get rid of the ’green flag with torch’. At that time a National Conference
was held in Kinshasa, which task it was to give Zaire a new, democratic constitution.
This National Conference decided to rename Zaire back to Congo as well as to
go back to "the old flag". Already a few days later this National Conference
was abolished by order of President Mobutu.
Jos Poels, 19 May 97
As far as I know the lightest green used on a flag was in Zaire’s flag.
Ralf Stelter, 25 Jul 1999
I saw sizes ranging from 1 to 1 proportionally to1 to2.
Some flags had apple green backgrounds, Irish green backgrounds, dark
green backgrounds. Some had red flames, orange flames, yellow flames outlined
in black. I saw orange arms, brown arms, black arms, black torches, brown
torches, badges so big they occupied almost the whole of the flag, badges so small
there was no point defacing the flag to begin with, and it goes on and
on. I reckon a third of the flags I saw had the arm and torch facing toward
the fly.
All of the above mentioned flags were flying over government facilities.
Clay Moss, 17 May 2005
In Flags through the ages and across the world, Smith (1975) [smi80]
notes that the original proposal for a new Zaire flag displayed a narrow red
horizontal stripe above the central yellow disc, recalling the blood of national
martyrs. A corresponding stripe below the disc was blue, to symbolize the rivers
and lakes of the country. The stripes were omitted in the final design, which
bore a modification of the emblem of the Popular Movement of the Revolution. The
flag incorporated the Pan African colours of red, yellow and green. Green is a
symbol of hope, faith in the future and confidence of the people. Unity is
symbolized by a disc, whose yellow colour stands for Zaire’s extensive natural
resources. The arm bearing a flaming torch graphically expressed the
revolutionary spirit the nation aspired to; its red flames an honour to the
nation’s martyrs.
Martin Grieve, 27 Dec 2009
image
by Marcus Wendel, 16 Aug 1999 (source:[tal94])
This is the Presidential flag of Zaire under President Mobuto.
Bruce Berry, 16 Aug 1999
The silhouettes are very familiar: The tank is a French AMX-13
and the jet is a French Mirage.
Dov Gutterman, 16 Aug 1999
See DR Congo - Coats of Arms for details on the coat of arms.
As others have noted, the flag is not in use any more. It was shown
in Smith's 1980 [smi82] book and the text
regarding it says:
"Presidential flag is used by the prime-minister in his office as lieutenant-general
of Zaïre armed forces. On his car he uses the national flag."
The flag is provided ratio approx. 3:4, and marked as "alternation" (one of
several possible flags used either simultaneously or under certain conditions)
Željko Heimer, 17 Aug 1999