Mali’s flag is a vertical tricolour of green, yellow, and red in 2:3 ratio. Adopted on 1 March 1961 after the Mali Federation dissolved, it removed the Kanaga figure used on the federation’s 1959 flag. Green signifies the land and hope; yellow mineral wealth and labour; red the blood shed for freedom. Law standardises proportions, colours, and protocol.
Mali’s tricolour places pan‑African colours in a francophone layout and a post‑federation legal frame.
From federation to republic. In 1959 Senegal and the Sudanese Republic formed the Mali Federation with a green‑yellow‑red tricolour bearing a stylised Kanaga figure. The federation dissolved in 1960; the Republic of Mali adopted, on 1 March 1961, a tricolour of the same colours without the anthropomorphic device.
Symbolism
Green evokes the land, agriculture, and hope; yellow the country’s resources and labour; red the sacrifices of the independence struggle. The vertical arrangement reflects institutional inheritance from the French vexillological tradition even as the palette affirms pan‑African identity.
Standards and protocol
Ratio is commonly 2:3; bands are equal; colour values are standardised by decree. Protocol sets order of precedence, hoisting and lowering rites, half‑masting, and dignified retirement. Unauthorised defacement or misuse is prohibited.
Continuity
and presence. The design has remained unchanged since 1961, with official drawings ensuring consistent shades. Derived standards exist for state offices and forces, but the civil flag is constant.
Thus Mali’s flag—simple, stable, and symbolic—binds federation history to a durable republican emblem.