Last modified: 2022-10-22 by bruce berry
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by Martin Grieve, 05 Jan 2018
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There is a fascinating story about how the naval ensign of
Zaïre (now Democratic
Republic of Congo) came to be formalized and then made by a South African
flag manufacturer that was published in SAVA Newsletter SN75/16 (August
2016).
The story begins in the late 1980s when South Africa was still very much the
pariah state in Africa and did not have diplomatic relations with any black
African country, save for Malawi. Trade and diplomatic
links which did take place between the apartheid regime and the rest of Africa
were clandestine and covert.
In 1988/89 the South African Navy was involved in a secret project to establish
a credible naval capability for Zaïre and
provide the country with the ability to protect its waters as well as conduct
rescue missions.
Involved in the project was SAVA member Arne Soderlund, who also decided that
the Zaïre Navy needed a ‘proper’ ensign as
the ones he had seen appeared to be hand-made and lacking in consistency. He did
some drawings with specifications and had about twenty manufactured by National
Flag in South Africa, which was sworn to secrecy. These were based on
illustrations used on the Zaire Navy letterheads, the national flag and from the
personal observation of the handmade versions seen on the local vessels.
The South African manufactured ensigns were sent to Zaïre
on board the SAS Drakensberg on 01 September 1990. Each vessel and the Chief of
the Navy were presented with one and the rest went to their naval stores.
The design appears to be based on the naval ensign of
Belgium in that it had a green saltire on a white field. In the centre of
the saltire is the national emblem of Zaïre
as found on the national flag. In the upper quadrant are two cannons in black in
saltire and in the bottom quadrant is a stylised anchor, also in black.
Bruce Berry, 05 Jan 2018