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Guinea

Republic of Guinea, Guinée, République de Guinée

2:3~ image by Mark Sensen

Flag adopted 10 November 1958, coat of arms adopted 23 December 1993.

See also:

Union of African States formed by Guinea, Ghana and Mali around 1960.

Flag of Guinea

National colours of Guinea are red, yellow and green. They are displayed vertically, in three equally wide stripes. They are the same as those of Ghana (which are displayed horizontally). Their adoption symbolizes "the continuity of the human emancipation movement". In a speech, Sékou Touré [first president from independence to his death - 1958-1984] explained the meaning of the colours.
"Red: the colour of blood, symbol of our anti-colonialist martyrs. It is the sweat that runs over the ivory body of farmers, factory workers and other active workers. It is the wish for progress. Therefore red matches perfectly the first word of our motto: "Travail" (Work).
Yellow: the colour of Guinean gold and African sun. It is the source of energy, generosity and equality for all men to which he gives light equally. Therefore yellow matches perfectly with the second word of our motto: "Justice".
Green: the colour of the African vegetation. 85% of the population are farmers living in the countryside, which is ever covered with a green coat. Green symbolizes prosperity which will surely arise from the wide wealth of soil and subsoil, and the difficult life of the countryside masses in our country. Therefore, green will confirm the meaning of the third word of the motto: "Solidarite'" (Solidarity)"

Source:
Bernard Charles. Guinée - L'Atlas des Voyages. Éditions Rencontre. Lausanne. 1963. 223 p.
located by Dov Gutterman, 28 March 1999 from http://www.guinee.net/bibliotheque/general/bcharles/edlq.html#flagmotto, translated by Ivan Sache, 29 March 1999.

The protocol manual for the London 2012 Olympics (Flags and Anthems Manual London 2012 <bib-lna.html#loc12>) provides recommendations for national flag designs. Each NOC was sent an image of the flag, including the PMS shades, for their approval by LOCOG. Once this was obtained, LOCOG produced a 60 x 90 cm version of the flag for further approval. So, while these specs may not be the official, government, version of each flag, they are certainly what the NOC believed the flag to be.
For Guinea, PMS 032 red, 109 yellow, 355 green. The vertical flag is simply the horizontal version turned 90 degrees clockwise.
Ian Sumner, 11 October 2012

Coat of arms of Guinea and the Flag of the President

Before 1984

image by Željko Heimer

The flag of the president was the same as the national flag, with the coat of arms in the yellow field. The colours of the coat of arms seems to be different when used on the flag:

White dove instead of green
Black text on yellow instead of white on green

Source: Whitney Smith - All världens flaggor, 1981 [smi81s]
Marcus Wendel, 9 September 1999

Changes in 1984

This flag was probably abandoned in 1984 when the coat of arms was changed, after the death of the president Sekou Toure. The elephant was removed, and the coat of arms showing rifle and sword was introduced. On Dec 23rd 1993 the Guinean government decided to remove the rifle and sword from the coat of arms. The vertically partitioned field of red and green was at the same time removed and the new coat of arms is voided.
Ivan Sache, Nozomi Kariyasu, Dylan Crawfoot, 19 June 2000
Juan Manuel Gabino, 5 September 2000


1984 coat of arms from [cra90].	1993 coat of arms from the Government site.

An image of current president of Guinea at http://static2.dmcdn.net/static/video/589/984/27489985:jpeg_preview_large.jpg?20110101153037 shows behind him there are two flags, a national flag, and an other one, a national flag with a black device placed on the yellow stripe. This emblem seems to be a black outlined version of the coat of arms. Is it a new presidential flag of Guinea?
Zoltan Horvath, 31 December 2011