Flag of Yemen

The national flag of Yemen () is the official flag of the Republic of Yemen. It was adopted on 22 May 1990, the day of the unification of Yemen. It resembles the Arab Liberation Flag that was used by the National Liberation Front. It served as the derivation for the flags of both North and South Yemen prior to their unification, and the distinctive elements of both former flags were removed in choosing the flag post-unification.

According to the official description, the red stands for unity and the bloodshed of martyrs, the white for a bright future, and the black for the supposed dark past. The flag is graphically identical to the flag of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1972.

Design

Construction sheet

Meaning behind the colours Colour Represents Red The blood of martyrs who struggled to achieve independence and unity.WhiteA bright future. Black The dark days of the past.

Colour shades Red White Black Pantone PMS 032 – PMS Black RGB 206, 17, 38 255, 255, 255 0, 0, 0 Hexadecimal #CE1126 #FFFFFF #000000 CMYK 0, 90, 76, 0 0, 0, 0, 0 0, 0, 0, 100

Historical pre-unification flags Before Yemen was unified into the present-day Republic of Yemen in 1990, it existed as two separate countries, North and South Yemen. North Yemen Kingdom of Yemen

The Kingdom of Yemen was never a British protectorate, but was nominally part of the Ottoman Empire until 1918 and was independent thereafter. Independently, here were two British protectorates (known as the Eastern and Western Aden Protectorates) which contained 24 sultanates, emirates and sheikhdoms in the hinterland of Aden.

The flag was in use until 1962 when the imam was overthrown and the Yemen Arab Republic was established. A civil war between republicans (supported by Egypt) and royalists (supported by Saudi Arabia) continued until 1970, with the royalist side continuing to use the flag of the kingdom.

Yemen Arab Republic

When the Egyptian-backed Yemen Arab Republic revolted against the imamate in 1962, a version of the Arab Liberation Flag with one green star in the center of the white band which symbolized unity and independence.

South Yemen

The flag of the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen in the South was a version of the Arab Liberation Flag with a light blue triangle which represented the people under the leadership of the National Liberation Front, with a red star next to the hoist representing the NLF itself and later the Socialist Party. The flag was adopted on 30 November 1967 when South Yemen declared independence from the United Kingdom until the Yemeni unification in 1990. It was used again for a few months in 1994 during the existence of the Democratic Republic of Yemen.

Pre-independence flags Before the independence, South Yemen had different flags according to political entity that belonged:

Federation of South Arabia: formed in 1959 as a British protectorate, adopted a flag of 7 horizontal bands, of colors black, green and blue, and yellow between they; above of all a white star and crescent moon. In 1962 the star was slightly modified. For the states flag, see States of Federation of South Arabia

Aden Colony: in 1937 adopted as naval ensign the Blue Ensign with the Union Jack, and a distinctive emblem of a vessel at sea.

Protectorate of South Arabia: used the British flag as general emblem, but their former Sultanates and states members had its own flags

Flag of Yemen

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