National Flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (1997)

The Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly known as the Congo Free State and the Belgium Congo, was a Belgium governed territory until June 1960, when independence was achieved.

With independence came the first adoption of the current national flag. Unfortunately, independence also heralded the on-set of secessionist movements and savage civil war, which ravaged the country throughout most of the 1960s.

On the 1st of December 1971, the incumbent government, wishing to dispense with the Democratic Republic of the Congo's links to its colonial past and an identity issue with the similar named People's Republic of the Congo, changed its name to Zaire and adopted a new national flag.

After another civil dispute in 1997, a new government was formed and changed Zaire back to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and also re-adopted, on the 17th of May 1997, the original (1960) national flag.

The Symbolic Meaning

A blue flag with a centrally placed yellow five-pointed star was originally flown in the late 19th century by the ruling colonial regime of the Congo Free State, which later became the Belgium Congo. 

With the advent of the country's independence in 1960, this flag was maintained with the addition of six five-pointed yellow stars placed vertically in the hoist. These were to represent the six provinces of the new nation. 

When the flag was re-adopted in 1997, it maintained the six stars even though the number of provinces in the country had altered.