flag of Burkina Faso

Captain Thomas Sankara, formerly prime minister, seized control of the government of the Republic of Upper Volta on August 4, 1983, and exactly a year later introduced his program for revitalizing the land. To inspire people to that task, the name and symbols of the country were altered. The name Burkina Faso, which means “Land of Incorruptible People,” was created by combining words of the Mossi and Bobo peoples. A new coat of arms was introduced, the national anthem was rewritten, and the motto “Unity, labour, justice” gave way to “Fatherland or death, we will win!”

Upper Volta’s flag, adopted on December 9, 1959, had black, white, and red stripes referring to the Black Volta, White Volta, and Red Volta rivers. The new Burkinabé flag utilized the pan-African colours of neighbouring countries. The background consisted of equal horizontal stripes of red over green with a yellow star, standing for leadership and the revolutionary principles of the new program, in the centre. Yellow was also associated with the country’s mineral wealth. Red reflected the revolutionary struggle necessary for altering the national consciousness, while green was symbolic of hope and abundance. The basic design may have been inspired by the flag of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (see Vietnam, flag of), since the Viet Cong guerrilla force was widely admired in underdeveloped countries as a model of anti-imperialism and commitment to political and economic reform. The Burkinabé flag continued to be used even after Sankara was assassinated and many of his programs were canceled or modified.