Flag of Zaire
Officially Republic of Zaire
Locally République du Zaïre
What the flag looks like
A green field with a yellow disc in the center, in which a brown arm and hand hold up a torch with a red flame.
What it means
The torch was the emblem of the Popular Movement of the Revolution, the ruling and only legal party under Mobutu Sese Seko.
How to remember it
Mobutu's Zaire
flew a green flag with a yellow disc where a hand raises a flaming torch; DR Congo
, as it became, flies sky blue with a red diagonal.
Fun facts
- Mobutu also renamed the Congo River the Zaire River, and the national currency was called the zaire.
- When Laurent-Désiré Kabila's forces took Kinshasa in 1997, the country became the Democratic Republic of the Congo again.
Zaire at a glance
- Existed
- 1971–1997
- Flag used
- 1971–1997
- Today
- Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Capital
- Kinshasa
- Region
- 1971–1997
- Languages
- French
- Currency
- Zaire
- Flag adopted
- 1971