Flag of Rwanda

The national flag of Rwanda is a horizontal tricolour consisting of a light blue top half, two equal bands of yellow and green in the bottom half, and a golden sun in the upper fly-side corner. It was adopted on 31 December 2001. Its design is defined in the Rwandan constitution and regulations regarding its use and manufacture are outlined in the country's national flag law.

During the colonial era, the Kingdom of Rwanda flew the German flag and then the Belgian flag. A vertical tricolour of red, yellow, and green was adopted following the coup of Gitarama on 28 January 1961, which saw the abolition of the Tutsi-dominated monarchy and the establishment of a Hutu-dominated republic. A black "R" was later added to the flag's centre that September. In 1994, the Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) overthrew the Hutu-led government and ended the Rwandan genocide. The RPF government that was subsequently formed announced in 1999 its intention to change the national flag, arguing that the existing flag had become associated with the genocide. Critics viewed the move as an attempt to symbolically assert RPF rule.