Flag: Burundi

A white diagonal cross, red and green triangles, and three red stars. The white cross splits the flag into four triangles: the top and bottom ones are red, the left and right ones green. In the middle sits a white disc with three red, green-edged six-pointed stars arranged in a triangle. Officially, red recalls the suffering of the fight for independence, green stands for hope and white for peace. The three stars carry the national motto Unité, Travail, Progrès (Unity, Work, Progress), and most Burundians will also tell you they stand for the country's three peoples: Hutu, Tutsi and Twa. The design was adopted in 1967, five years after independence from Belgium and a year after the monarchy was abolished, replacing a royal version with a drum and a sorghum plant in the centre.

Burundi itself is one of Africa's smallest countries, roughly the size of Belgium or Maryland, and one of its most densely populated. It lies on the northern shore of Lake Tanganyika; Bujumbura, the big lakeside city, was the capital until 2019, when the government moved the political capital inland to Gitega. People speak Kirundi, which almost everyone shares, plus French and, since 2014, English as official languages. Outside the region Burundi is best known for its royal drummers, whose thunderous ensembles are on UNESCO's list of intangible heritage, and for its long-distance runners.

What does it mean when someone sends 🇧🇮?

Almost always: “I am Burundian” or “I am thinking of Burundi.” In a bio or username it marks roots; Burundians abroad, with large communities in Belgium, Canada, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda, often pair it with the flag of where they live now. In a chat it points to the country: a trip, a news story, a dish, a song. The tone is plain and warm, the same as any home-country flag.

Around sport it turns into a cheer. Football fans fly it for the Intamba (the Swallows), the national team that reached the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time in 2019, and athletics fans for runners such as Vénuste Niyongabo, who won Burundi's first Olympic gold in the 5000 m in 1996, and Francine Niyonsaba. On 1 July it fills timelines for Independence Day, and in hard moments, during unrest or floods, a row of 🇧🇮 with 🙏 or 🕊️ means solidarity rather than politics. It is not a political statement on its own; read the words around it.