South Sudan flag

Black, red and green stripes, a blue triangle, and a gold star. The three wide stripes are separated by thin white lines; the blue triangle sits against the pole and holds a five-pointed gold star.

Each part has an official meaning: black for the South Sudanese people, red for the blood shed in the long struggle for freedom, green for the land and its farms, white for the peace that followed, blue for the River Nile, and the gold star for unity and guidance. South Sudan became independent on 9 July 2011 after a referendum in which almost everyone voted to leave Sudan, which makes it the world's youngest widely recognised country as of 2026. Its capital is Juba, on the White Nile.

The design is older than the state. It was the flag of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, the rebel movement that fought Khartoum for decades, and it became the flag of the autonomous south in 2005 under the peace agreement that ended the war. Independence in 2011 simply kept it. That is why it looks like a liberation banner rather than a redesign by committee.

What does it mean when someone posts 🇸🇸?

Usually pride in South Sudanese heritage, or support for its teams. In a profile it marks where someone or their family is from. Years of war and flooding pushed millions of South Sudanese into Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan and further afield to Australia, the United States and Canada, so a large share of the people posting this flag live outside the country and pair it with the flag of where they live now.

Sport is the other big reason. The men's basketball team, the Bright Stars, built around players from the diaspora and led by former NBA star Luol Deng as federation president, reached the 2024 Paris Olympics in only its second decade of existence, and the flag floods timelines whenever they play. The football team shares the nickname. Around 9 July the flag means Independence Day celebrations, and next to a dove or praying hands it usually accompanies hopes for peace after the civil war that broke out in 2013.