
Last modified: 2014-06-14 by ian macdonald
Keywords: star: 5 points (black) | stars: 2 | 
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According to an article [usa74] in 
Flaggenmitteilung 96 (March 1984), 
the files of late A. Usachow [1974] show 8 flag 
projects worth mentioning. In the end none of the designs was adopted, rather 
the flag of the MLSTP instead.
Mark Sensen, 26 May 1997
image by Mark Sensen, 26 May 1997
Horizontal yellow over green (colours of the 
liberation movement), 
2 red stars in the middle.
Mark Sensen, 26 May 1997, 
quoting from [fml] 96
image by Mark Sensen, 26 May 1997
Since the struggle for independence was not satisfactorily represented 
by this, a red stripe was added nearby the hoist and the 
stars were changed to black.
Mark Sensen, 26 May 1997, 
quoting from [fml] 96
image by Mark Sensen, 26 May 1997
The red stripe didn’t express equality, and was 
replaced by a red triangle.
Mark Sensen, 26 May 1997, 
quoting from [fml] 96
image by Mark Sensen, 26 May 1997
To express the African character better, the colour of the triangle 
was changed from red to black, with in the middle of 
it a red star for «unity in struggle». The two back stars 
were omitted.
Mark Sensen, 26 May 1997, 
quoting from [fml] 96
image by Mark Sensen, 26 May 1997
Because the black stars would well enough express 
the unity of the two islands a new design was made. This flag was red 
with a yellow over green stripe with two black stars.
Mark Sensen, 26 May 1997, 
quoting from [fml] 96
image by Mark Sensen, 26 May 1997
But in this way a four-striped was obtained, a type 
common to the Indian revolutionaries at the 
beginning of the 20th century. So the yellow-green stripe with the black 
stars was placed diagonal (from lower hoist to upper fly).
Mark Sensen, 26 May 1997, 
quoting from [fml] 96
image by Mark Sensen, 26 May 1997
This still looked too much like the four-striped 
flag, so a design with three stripes diagonal yellow-red-green (with 
the stars on the central stripe) was made.
Mark Sensen, 26 May 1997, 
quoting from [fml] 96
image by Mark Sensen, 26 May 1997
Two dark colours were however near each other which is 
against heraldic rules, so the stripes were placed 
green-red-black with narrow yellow fimbriations. The two black stars remained 
on the central stripe.
Mark Sensen, 26 May 1997, 
quoting from [fml] 96