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Comoros flag in 1978-1992

Last modified: 2008-02-28 by antónio martins
Keywords: stars: 4 | stars: line | star: 5 points (white) | crescent: points to bottom fly (white) | crescent: points to fly (white) | error | stamp |
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1978 Comoros flag
image by Jorge Candeias, 02 Aug 2005
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About the flag

In 13 May 1978 by a coup d’Etat of Bob Denard became to power to old president Abdallah. The flag was oficially changed 23 May 1978.
Jaume Ollé, 30 Mar 1997

According to an article in The Flag Bulletin [tfb] 174, in 1978 the field became all green again. The now enlarged and centred crescent still faced the bottom right but the stars were now arranged in a line between its horns.
Stuart Notholt, 22 May 1997

On 13 May 1978, the French mercenary Robert “Bob” Denard, a.k.a. “Colonel Mustafa Madzihu”, overthrew Soilih and reestablished President Abdallah. The new Constitution, dated 1 October 1978, prescribed the Federal and Islamic Republic of Comoros. Red was excluded from the new flag, and the four stars were placed between the two points of the crescent, to symbolize reconciliation, according to Lux-Wurm [lux01].
Ivan Sache, 20 Apr 2002

Following an invasion by mercenaries in which President Ali Soilih was killed, a former president, Ahmed Abdallah, was restored. The country was proclaimed an Islamic republic and a new flag was adopted. There appears to be uncertainty about both the shade of green and the proportions of this flag. [smi80] (a work in which colour shades are not very reliable) has a dark green and states that the proportions are approximately 3:5. [cra90] also has dark green; the proportions are not stated but those of the illustration are 1:2. [cra91] has a green that is only slightly darker than normal; the proportions of the illustration are 3:5. [shw94], which uses illustrations prepared by the Flag Institute, has a medium green; proportions are not specified but the illustration is 3:5.
Vincent Morley, 29 Mar 1997

Lux-Wurm [lux01] says it was 2:3, Calvarin [clv02] says 3:5.
Ivan Sache, 20 Apr 2002


Post-1992 use?

At the Comores InfosWeb site, the flag seems as that flag used between 1978-1992.
Horváth Zoltán, 27 Jan 2002

Strange indeed. I would propose the theory that this is an archival photo, used in lack of a more recent one (a phenomenon which often causes anachronical vexillological reports).
António Martins, 30 Jan 2002

I have on my files a photo of the 1998-1999 prime-minister of Comoros Djoussouf Abbas in front of a flag. It’s a green flag with the crescent and four stars of Comoros tilted 45° clockwise. The fact that this flag appears in this photo means, I believe, that the flag didn’t die with its replacement in 1992. I don’t know when this photo was taken, but I suspect that it might have been somewhen during the flag debate that took place in the country and led to the adoption of the current flag. Why? Well, because of the details in Abbas’ political carreer: In this biography of him (in french) we find that he was a candidate for president in 1990, coming 4th. Then, since he was born in 1942, he’d be 48 yeas old, and I believe he looks a lot older than that in the photo. And the next time we could expect to find him in front of a comoran flag is 1996, when he came 2nd in that year’s presidential elections. That’s 4 years after the flag changed. I think that it is possible that this flag kept on living somehow beyond 1992.
Jorge Candeias, 02 Aug 2005


Atypical depictions in official postage stamps

Large crescent

1978 Comoros strange flag
image by Ivan Sache, 20 Apr 2002

Calvarin [clv02] reports an unofficial (or simply erroneous) version of this flag, shown on a Comorian stamp. The flag is 1:2 with a large crescent placed along the hoist and the four stars placed vertically between the points of the crescent.
Ivan Sache, 20 Apr 2002

Golden crescent

The Comoros flag pictured on this stamp (part of a three-stamp set issued in 1985; the Stanley Gibbons catalogue numbers are 562 to 565) is pale green, with a golden crescent set at an angle together with five small golden five-pointed stars set between the points of the crescent.
Ron Lahav, 02 Feb 2005

The Comoro stamp in question was issued as a set of four in 1985 to commemorate the 10th. anniversary of Comoro’s independence. The flag is green, with a crescent moon (with its curved edge towards the hoist) and four stars in white arranged in a line between the horns. The bottom horn of the crescent is just inside the lower hoist corner of the flag, while (I estimate) the top horn is just inside the middle of the top edge of the flag. The top point of each of the four stars lies on the line between the horns.
Richard Mallett, 03 Dec 2005

There seems to be a discrepancy in the colors of the stars between the 2005 edition of Staney Gibbons Stamps of the World which I used and the 2006 edition which you are using.
Ron Lahav, 04 Dec 2005


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