The Somali flag (Calanka Soomaaliya): who designed it, when, and what the star means

The flag in one line

A white five-pointed star, centred on a light blue field. In Somali it is Calanka Soomaaliya, and the star is often called xiddigta.

Who made it and when

The flag was designed by Mohammed Awale Liban, a Somali scholar, after the territorial council could not agree on earlier proposals (Flag of Somalia, Wikipedia, citing CRW Flags and Costantino 2001; Mohammed Awale Liban, Wikipedia). The council approved it on 12 October 1954, when the south was still the UN Trust Territory of Somaliland under Italian administration (Flag of Somalia, Wikipedia, citing the UN General Assembly record of 14 December 1954).

Abdirizak Haji Hussein, a leader of the Somali Youth League and later prime minister, tells the story in his memoir (Hussein, My Role in the Foundation of the Somali Nation-State, 2017, pp. 97–98, cited by Wikipedia).

On 26 June 1960 the north became independent as the State of Somaliland. On 1 July 1960 it joined the south, and the star flag became the flag of the Somali Republic (Flag of Somalia, Wikipedia). Somalis mark 12 October as Flag Day (Maalinta Calanka).

What it means

The star. Its five points stand for the five lands where Somalis live: the former British Somaliland, the former Italian Somalia, French Somaliland (today Djibouti), the Somali Region of Ethiopia, and the North Eastern Province of Kenya (Znamierowski, The World Encyclopedia of Flags, 1999, p. 222, cited by Wikipedia). The Library of Congress gives the same five: the former Italian and British territories, the Ogaden, Djibouti and Kenya's Northern Frontier District (Library of Congress, Somalia: A Country Study). Two of those five, the north and the south, united in 1960. Djibouti became its own independent country in 1977.

The blue. Most accounts say the light blue first honoured the United Nations, which oversaw the south's road to independence from 1950 to 1960 (Flag of Somalia, Wikipedia). The German flag reference Flaggenlexikon says this "supposedly" came from Liban himself (Flaggenlexikon). The CIA World Factbook gives the meaning used today: the sky and the seas around the Somali coast (CIA World Factbook, archived 2012, via Wikipedia).

The white. The star's white is often read as peace and prosperity. We have not found a primary source for this, so we report it as a common reading only.

The flag in the law

Every Somali constitution since independence has written the flag into its first articles.

• 1960. Article 1 of the first constitution of the Somali Republic says: "The national flag shall be azure in colour, rectangular, and shall have a white star with five equal points emblazoned in its centre" (Constitution of the Somali Republic, 1960, art. 1(4)). See the 1960 Constitution.
• 2012. Article 6 of the Provisional Constitution says: "The flag of the Federal Republic of Somalia… is a light blue rectangle in the centre of which is a white star with five equal points." The same article lets each federal member state have its own flag and symbols (Provisional Constitution of Somalia, 2012, art. 6). Schedule One shows the flag and emblem as images.

The emblem has stayed the same since 1960: a blue shield with a gold border and a silver star, held by two leopards, over two crossed spears and two palm leaves (1960 Constitution, art. 1(5)).

Colours

The light blue is close to hex #418FDE (RGB 65, 143, 222). The star is plain white (Flag of Somalia, Wikipedia).

What to know today

The flag is flown across most of the Somali lands and the diaspora. In Somaliland, which has used its own flag since 1996, people have been arrested for raising the star flag. In September 2015, four singers of the Horn Stars band were held at Hargeisa airport after sharing photos with the star flag from a show in Mogadishu. A Hargeisa court freed them days later (Hiiraan Online, 2015; Garowe Online).

Why it matters

The flag came before the state. Somalis chose it in 1954, before independence, as one symbol for all their lands. Every generation since has carried it. See the two national anthems and Toosoo: the call.