Flag of Chad

Chad
Use National flag
Proportion 2:3
Adopted November 6, 1959
Design A vertical tricolor of blue, gold, and red.

The national flag of Republic of Chad (French: Drapeau du Tchad, Arabic: علم تشاد‎) is a vertical tricolour consisting (left to right) of a blue, a gold and a red field.[1] Its similarity to the flag of Romania, which differs only in having a lighter shade of blue (cobalt rather than indigo) has caused international discussion. In 2004, Chad asked the United Nations to examine the issue, but then-president of Romania Ion Iliescu announced no change would occur to the flag.[2]

Description

The flag of Chad is a vertical tricolour consisting (left to right) of a blue, a gold and a red column. These were intended to be a combination of the colours of blue, white and red as seen on the Flag of France with the Pan-African colours of green, yellow and red.[3] Furthermore, the blue represents the sky and hope; the gold is the sun and desert, and the red signifies the bloodshed over independence.[4]

The flag was adopted by law no. 59/13 for the autonomous republic and retained on independence in 1960, and in the constitution of 1962. Despite many political upheavals within Chad since independence, the flag has not been changed. This may be because the flag is not associated with any of the main power rivals within Chad, which had no sense of national identity before independence, and little after independence.[5]

Similarity with Romanian flag

The flag of Chad is almost identical to Romania's flag, but with a darker tint of blue. When Chad adopted its flag, Romania's flag was different: it used to feature an insignia in the middle of the flag on top of the tricolour; this was added after World War II during the Communist era of the second half of the 20th century. But in 1989 Romania's Communist government was overthrown and the insignia was removed, reverting Romania's flag to the prewar version which matched the one which had been adopted by Chad in the meantime.[6]

The issue of Romania and Chad sharing similar flags has concerned the Chadian government on occasion; they requested in 2004 that the United Nations should consider it an issue. In response, Romanian President Ion Iliescu said to the media, "The tricolour belongs to us. We will not give up the tricolour."[6]

Historic flag

French Equatorial Africa (1900–1959)

Chad used to be part of French Equatorial Africa, and therefore its flag was then the French tricolour.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Constitution of Chad" (PDF). presidence.td (in French). Chadian government. 31 March 1996. Retrieved 31 January 2017. L'emblème national est le drapeau tricolore, bleu, or, rouge à bandes verticales et à dimensions égales, le bleu étant du côté de la hampe.
  2. ↑ "'Identical flag' causes flap in Romania"
  3. ↑ MacDonald, Ian (20 November 2013). "Chad". Flags of the World. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
  4. ↑ Minahan, James (2010). The Complete Guide to National Symbols and Emblems. Santa Barbara, California: Greenwood Press. p. 806. ISBN 978-0-31334-496-1.
  5. ↑ Vagnat, Pascal; Poels, Jos (2000). Constitutions - what they tell us about national flags and coats of arms. South Africa: South African Vexillological Association. ISBN 978-0-620-27350-3.
  6. 1 2 "'Identical flag' causes flap in Romania". BBC News. 14 April 2004. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
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