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by Željko Heimer, 13 Oct 2001Cameroon is is a country in west central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the north-east; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the Bight of Bonny which is part of the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean.
1884 - 19191919 - 1961
The League of Nations mandates were converted into United Nations Trusteeships
in 1946.
The
French created an autonomous state in 1957 which adopted the first Cameroon
flag on 29 October 1957 (law 57/46) of vertical green-red-yellow stripes.
Independence was granted on 01 January 1961.
British Cameroon was divided into two: British Northern Cameroon (split in two
non contiguous pieces) and British Southern Cameroon, both of which were ruled from
Nigeria which became independent 01 October 1960.
British Northern
Cameroon was, until then, part of the northern region of Nigeria while British
Sothern Cameroon was a separate entity (region).
On
11 February 1961 a plebiscite was held in which each region was asked whether it wished to become part of
Nigeria or part of French Cameroon. Northern Cameroon voted to join Nigeria and Southern Cameroon
voted to unite with French Cameroon to form the Federal Republic of Cameroon on
01 October 1961 (a federal, rather than unitary, form of
government consisting of the two states: Western Cameroon (formerly British
Southern Cameroon) and East Cameroon (formerly French Cameroon)).
Post - independence (1961 - )
In 1972 the federal system of government was abolished in favour of a unitary
state following a national referendum and the country was renamed the United
Republic of Cameroon. Following a Presidential Decree in 1984 the country
was renamed the Republic of Cameroon. The country joined the
Commonwealth of Nations on 11 November 1995.
Jaume Olle, 17 April 2001
The flag of Cameroon is a vertical tricolor of green, red, and yellow, with a yellow
five pointed star in the centre. Cameroon was second African state
(after Ghana) to adopt the Pan African colours. When British South Cameroon
joined the federation, two stars where added. In 1972, the country became a unitary state and three
years later two stars were replaced with just one. The flag was officially hoisted on 20 May 1975. Proportions are approx. 2:3 (based on [smi82]).
Željko Heimer 8 December 1995
Red, yellow and green are the Pan African colours
and the pattern of the flag recalls the French Tricolore. Green stands
for hope and the southern forests, red for unity (and the star as well
is the star of unity) and yellow for the sun ('the source of peoples
happiness') or prosperity as well as the northern savannas. ([udk97],
[smi75c], [ped71]).
Ivan Sache, 13 February 2000
In 'DTV-Lexikon politischer Symbole' (1970), Arnold Rabbow [rab70] writes:
'Green represents the rich vegetation of the southern region; yellow the
soil of the extreme North; the red stands for national sovereignty. In 'Webster's
Concise Encyclopedia of Flags, Mucha (1985) [mch85a]:
'Green denotes the rich forest vegetation of the southern part of the
country, and the hope for a happy future; red is the symbol of
independence and unity; and yellow stands for the savannas in the
savannas in the northern part of the country and for the sun as the
source of the nation's happiness. The star symbolizes the unity of the
country.'
Jarig Bakker, 13 Feb 2000
The colours of the flag of Cameroon are the Pan African colours of
green/red/yellow. They are based on the colours of the flag of
Ethiopia, a horizontal tricolour of green/yellow/red which dates
back to 1897 and influenced the colours of many post-colonial African flags. The colours
of the Cameroon flag form a vertical tricolour based on the flag of France which was the colonial
power controlling most of its territory before independence.
The basic pattern of the flag of Cameroon dates back to 1957. In
1961 Southern Cameroon, a former British colony or dependency,
voted to join Cameroon in a federal type of government. At that
time two yellow stars were added to the upper part of the green
portion of the flag. In 1972 the federal system was replaced by
a unitary government, and in 1975 the two stars were removed from
the green and a single yellow star was placed on the red portion
of the flag.
Devereaux D. Cannon, Jr., 27 Feb 2001
In Constitutions - What they tell us about national flags and coat of arms,
published by SAVA (2000) Pascal Vagnat & Jos Poels
[vap00] indicate Article 1(5) from the Constitution
last amended in 1996 which describes (but does not detail) the current flag.
The last legislation I have is Law No 84-1 dated 04 February 1984 (issued on the
basis of the 1972 Constitution as amended), but this also contains no details
regarding a size for the star.
Christopher Southworth 18 August 2003
The Constitution of the Republic of Cameroon was adopted on 02 June 1972 and last changed by Law #96/06 of 18 January 1996:
Cited from [vap00] by Ivan Sache, 23 Aug 2003Part I
On the State and Sovereignty
Article 1
[...]
4. The motto of the Republic of Cameroon is: PEACE - WORK - FATHERLAND
5. Its flag shall be: green, red, yellow in three equal vertical stripes. It is charged with one gold star in the centre of the red stripe.
[...]
7. The seal of the Republic of Cameroon shall be a circular medallion in bas-relief, 46 millimetres in diameter, bearing on the obverse and in the centre the head of a girl in profile turned to the dexter towards a coffee branch with two leaves and flanked on the sinister by five cocoa pods, encircled beneath the upper edge by the French words "Republique du Cameroun" and above the lower edge by the national motto "Paix - Travail - Patrie"; on the reverse and in the centre the coat of arms of the Republic of Cameroon, encircled beneath the upper edge by the English words "Republic of Cameroon" and above the lower edge by the national motto "Peace - Work - Fatherland".
The coat of arms of the Republic of Cameroon shall be an escutcheon surmounted chief by the legend "Republic of Cameroon" and supported two crossed fasces with the motto "Peace - Work - Fatherland" base. The escutcheon shall be composed of a gold star or on a field vert and triangle gules, charged with the geographical outline of Cameroon azure and surcharged with the sword and scales of justice sable.
[...]
The protocol manual for the London 2012 Olympics
(Flags and Anthems Manual, London, 2012 [bib-lna.html])
provides recommendations for national flag designs. Each National Olympic
Committee was sent an image of their flag, including the PMS shades, by the
London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) for their approval.
Once this was obtained, the LOCOG produced a 60 x 90 cm version of the flag for
further approval. So, while these specifications may not be the official,
government, version of each flag, they are certainly what the National Olympic
Committee believed their flag to be.
For Cameroon : PMS 355 green, 032 red, 109 yellow. The vertical flag is the
horizontal version reversed and turned 90 degrees anti-clockwise - green at the
top, but the star points to the left.
Ian Sumner,
10 Oct 2012
I recently picked
up "Le Drapeau Du Cameroun - Le vexille etoile" (The Flag of Cameroon -
The Star Flag) by Gervais Mbarga, (2014) and it contains several documents
confirming the ratio of the national flag. Decree No. 76-424 of 16 September
1976 has the overall ratio of the flag as 2:3 with all three stripes being equal
in size. For the gold star on the red stripe, the star is centered but not given
a specific size. However, digging more into this book, and quoting the
whole section below from FOTW, the author conducted research and concluded that
while a specific dimension of the star would benefit, not one ratio was
prescribed in legislation or in government orders.
Zachary Harden, 30 Dec 2016
In Constitutions - What they tell us about national flags and coat of arms,
published by SAVA (2000) Pascal Vagnat & Jos Poels
[vap00] indicate Article 1(5) from the Constitution
last amended in 1996 which describes (but does not detail) the current flag.
The last legislation I have is Law No 84-1 dated 04 February 1984 (issued on the
basis of the 1972 Constitution as amended), but this also contains no details
regarding a size for the star.
Christopher Southworth 18 August 2003
The local paper yesterday carried a picture from Reuters of flags
outside the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Malta. The
Cameroon flag, clearly visible in the display, has a much larger star
than shown above - it looks like it takes up 7/8 of the width of the
central stripe, or maybe more.
James Dignan, 29 Nov 2005
Image by Ivan Sache, 15 Feb 2008
The African Cup of Nations (CAN) football tournament took place in Ghana from 20
January to 10 February 2008. Two big national flags were consistently hung from the
stadium during
the matches. Those of Cameroon were characterized by having a very small star, hardly
visible from a distance. I can
add to this report that I saw several flags during a visit in Yaoundé in
autumn 2004. Many were hoisted over official buildings or sold in the streets
with no uniformity in the size of the star.
Ivan Sache, 15 Feb 2008
