Ethiopia’s flag is a horizontal tricolour of green, yellow, and red charged with a blue disc bearing a golden star and rays. Adopted on 6 February 1996, it updates the long‑standing Ethiopian tricolour that inspired pan‑African colours. Green denotes land and hope; yellow peace and justice; red sacrifice. The star symbolises unity and equality of peoples. Law prescribes display, respectful handling, and emblem drawing across federal institutions and missions.
Ethiopia’s tricolour is one of Africa’s oldest state emblems and the fountainhead of pan‑African colours. Its present form, with a blue disc and golden star, dates to 1996 and expresses federal unity atop a venerable palette.
In the late nineteenth century, under Emperor Menelik II, Ethiopia consolidated a modern state and adopted a tricolour of red, yellow, and green. After the victory at Adwa (1896) affirmed independence, the colours gained wider resonance. Arrangements varied, but by the early twentieth century a horizontal order with green uppermost became common. Under the monarchy the Lion of Judah often appeared on the flag as an imperial device.
Italian occupation (1936–1941) interrupted but did not erase the tricolour’s status; upon restoration the imperial banner returned. The 1974 revolution replaced the Lion of Judah with socialist emblems during the Derg era, but the foundational colours remained. After 1991, as a federal republic formed, lawmakers retained the tricolour while seeking a new centrepiece representing a multi‑national state rather than a dynasty or ideology.
On 6 February 1996, legislation established the current device: a blue disc at the centre bearing a golden five‑pointed star with radiating lines. The star signifies the equality and unity of Ethiopia’s peoples and nationalities; blue suggests peace. Implementing regulations define proportions, colour references, and the disc’s size and placement to ensure consistent manufacture.
Protocol
prescribes respectful handling, half‑masting during national mourning, and order of precedence in co‑display with regional and foreign flags. Government buildings, schools, and diplomatic posts fly the flag; armed forces and vessels use prescribed variants aligned with international practice. Education materials emphasise the pan‑African legacy of the colours, now anchored to a federal civic symbol rather than monarchic heraldry.
Ethiopia’s flag thus marries continuity and update: the familiar tricolour that inspired a continent, newly centred by a unifying star for a plural republic.