The flag of Rwanda (Kinyarwanda: ibendera ry'Urwanda, French: Drapeau du Rwanda) was adopted on 25 October 2001. The flag has three colours: blue, yellow, and green, The light blue band represents happiness and peace, the yellow band symbolizes economic development, and the green band symbolizes the hope of prosperity. The yellow sun represents enlightenment. The flag represents national unity, respect for work, heroism, and confidence in the future. According to the state's official rationale, the flag was adopted (along with a new national anthem at the time) to avoid connotations to the 1994 genocide which it stated the previous one embodied. However, some Rwandans at the time expressed doubts about the reasoning and viewed it as an attempt by the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front to express its political power by changing state symbols. The flag was designed by Alphonse Kirimobenecyo. When hung vertically, the flag should be displayed as the horizontal version rotated clockwise 90 degrees. (Source: Wikipedia.org, CC BY-SA)