Wikipedia:Peer review/Flag of Rwanda/archive1

• There's a bunch of mysterious symbols (Small vexillological symbol or pictogram in black and white showing the different uses of the flag Small vexillological symbol or pictogram in black and white showing the different uses of the flag Reverse side is mirror image of obverse side ) in the infobox (and elsewhere). I'm sure Vexillologists will know what they mean, but most of our readers won't, so they need explaining, perhaps in a footnote.

  Added an efn note. Yue 🌙 (talk)

• charged with a golden sun in the upper fly-side corner As above, most people who don't study flags will know what "charged" means so that needs explaining.

  Removed; not necessary. Yue 🌙 (talk)

• in the upper fly-side corner probably also worth explaining fly-side (and later, hoist-side).

  Added an efn note. Yue 🌙 (talk)

• (law no. 34/2008, and subsequent amendments) no need for this level of detail in the lead.

  Removed. Yue 🌙 (talk)

• The upper fly-side (top right) corner features a golden sun with 24 rays that do not touch the sun's circumference.[6][7][3] I assume any of these three citations would be enough to support this simple description of the flag's design, in which case just go with the one best source. Adding additional redundant sources doesn't add any value.

  Kept the best source. Yue 🌙 (talk)

• flags flown indoors may have strands what is a "strand" in this context?
• I would move File:Flag of Rwanda (construction sheet).svg to be directly adjacent to the text at the beginning of Dimensions which describe what the image shows.

  Done. Yue 🌙 (talk)

• In some places you have "fly side", in others "fly-side". Be consistent about which spelling you use.

  Changed every instance to fly-side as it is an adjective. Yue 🌙 (talk)

• Under Colours, link Pantone and RAL. It's weird that they would use two different (competing?) color systems, but if that's what the source says, I guess that's what they did.
• I don't know what's usual practice for flag articles, but it seems to me that the Protocol section goes into more detail than needed. If that's what other flag FAs do, then OK, but if not, I'd look for places where this section could be tightened up a bit.

  Other flag articles usually explain the design/construction using generic units of measurement ("units") because the flag law or official manual does. This article is more detailed with exact dimensions and specific units (centimeters, millimeters) for physical flags of various sizes, because the Rwandan flag law is this specific. I think this section could be tightened; first thought is maybe just mentioning the most common sizes. Yue 🌙 (talk)

• The "R" stood for Rwanda, revolution, and referendum.[3] My first thought was "Why would they be using English words for the Rwandan flag?" but when I looked at Rwanda I saw that English is the "Working language". It might be worth mentioning that here.

  The adoption of English as a working language and an official language is relatively recent in comparison to French, which was the colonial language used by the Belgians. The French equivalents of Rwanda, revolution, and referendum are spelled exactly the same albeit with a few acute accents: Rwanda, révolution, et référendum. The source doesn't explicitly say that, but that's what I reckon was the case. I'll try to find a better source that says the French bit explicitly. Yue 🌙 (talk)

• a submission by Rwandan artist and engineer Alphonse Kirimobenecyo was ultimately selected I would drop "ultimately"; it really doesn't add anything.

  Removed. Yue 🌙 (talk)

• However, a number of Rwandans interviewed by ... Some reviewers will object to starting a sentence with a preposition. I think it's fine, but be prepared for this objection at WP:FAC so you can cite something to refute it (and make sure whatever you cite applies to British English).

  Got it. Yue 🌙 (talk)

That's it from me for a first read. I'm not seeing any major issues. You will certainly want to get somebody from WP:VEX to take a look, so make sure you publicize this there. RoySmith (talk) 17:08, 4 July 2026 (UTC) reply

It looks like Alphonse Kirimobenecyo was a well-known artist for many things other than designing the flag. You might want to see if you can find enough material to write at least a stub article about him. RoySmith (talk) 17:15, 4 July 2026 (UTC) reply

Got it. Yue 🌙 (talk)

@RoySmith: Thank for your detailed feedback! Yue 🌙 (talk) 18:46, 4 July 2026 (UTC) reply

Replied to most but not all comments. Yue 🌙 (talk) 19:16, 13 July 2026 (UTC) reply

Saving a spot. Whonting (talk) 01:35, 7 July 2026 (UTC) reply

Was about to start reviewing, although I realise now my feedback is duplicating Roy's which hasn't been attended to just yet. Yue, can you ping me when the above is actioned and I can jump in? Whonting (talk) 03:18, 11 July 2026 (UTC) reply

@Whonting: Finished responding to and acting on most of RoySmith's feedback. Feel free to chime in when you feel like it! Thanks. Yue 🌙 (talk) 07:06, 19 July 2026 (UTC) reply

Ta — looking over the sourcing before the text:

• The "About the government of Rwanda" source is currently unused.
• I can't link to the Internet Archive copy right now since it is down, but Flags and Arms Across the World (1980 ed) by Smith has some good information on p. 186:
  • "The "R" of this banner obviously represents the name of the country over which the flag flies. Historically, it has further associations of equal importance—revolution, referendum, and republic." To this end, clarifying that the R was not merely added in late September, but after the referendum would better establish the timeline and the significance of referendum.
  • I'll also quote the symbolism of yellow and green, "yellow is for peace, tranquillity, and liberation from the tyranny of the past; green is for hope in the future and the agricultural wealth of the land".
  • A related point here is that the BBC source crediting black as having "symbolism of gloom and mourning" is a bit ambiguous. I read it as not necessarily a reflection on the original meaning, but on what it would be read as in the wake of a genocide.
• Guide to the flags of the world (revised and updated 1982) by Talocci and Smith has an additional note on the colours of the original flag on p. 152: "The red, yellow, and green of the flag are pan-African colours. Red stands for the struggle for independence, yellow for peace, and green for hope." This explains my confusion as to why the flag was the same as that of Guinea.
• That point is elaborated on in The World Encyclopedia of Flags by Znamierowski (2010 ed.) over pages 123-124. Doesn't lend itself well to quoting, but worth consulting and integrating.
• Worth Dying For (Marshall book) has some comments, mainly reiterating what has been said elsewhere, but an explicit rejection of the flag's revision being a rejection of Pan-Africanism is stated.
• Some, generally critical treatment of the new flag's introduction in Making Ubumwe: Power, State and Camps in Rwanda’s Unity-Building Project (2015) on p 145, maybe elsewhere; Political Governance in Post-Genocide Rwanda (2013) on p 203, and Rwanda: From Genocide to Precarious Peace (2018) in more depth around p 172
• I may come back to track it down further, but looking in the index of The Flag Bulletin for 1961-1981, I see lists of discussions of the Rwanda flag, including a supplement by Smith: Political Symbolism in Rwanda. So you don't have to chase it up, Rwanda isn't mentioned in the 1982-1991 or 1992-2001 indexes.
• On the topic of journals, I notice that the article currently doesn't cite any. Sorry if any of the following is telling you stuff you already know, I say it as much for me and other reviewers as you:
  • Have you consulted Raven: A Journal of Vexillology ? I can see mention that "Papers in Raven are abstracted and indexed by EBSCO in Historical Abstracts and America: History and Life." which I can poke at to see if I have access to later if you don't.
  • Flagmaster is a magazine/non-peer reviewed journal put out by the Flag Institute. This index gives the following topics discussed across editions: "German colonial flags: a correction, 136: 16-17; The new flag of Rwanda, 104: 6-7; out-of-date Page 37 flag flown by mistake, 120: 12; President's flag, 123: 19". It appears to only be accessible if you have a membership, which is quite a bit more if you're outside the UK.
• Before I dig deeper into these types of sources, would you consider sources like this reliable for any of its facts?

Going to pause here, I'll come back later for a sweep of the Internet Archive and possibly French/Kinyarwanda sources, before getting to the text iself but you're welcome to opine and generally get a start. Whonting (talk) 09:35, 19 July 2026 (UTC) reply

IA is back up for me:

• Collins Gem Flag (1999) has this interesting tidbit on p. 170: "Its format, like that of many other revolutionary and republican flags, was probably based on that of the French tricolour."
• Webster's Concise Encyclopedia Of Flags & Coats of Arms (1985), p. 129, states "This letter stands for Rwanda, revolution, referendum (from the slogan: "Rwanda created by revolution and confirmed by referendum")
• Symbols of the Nations (1973), p. 230, gives a different formulation: "According to one interpretation, the "R" stands not only as the initial letter of the nation's name but also indicates that Rwanda is a Republic born of Revolution and confirmed by Referendum". The same formulation, more assuredly, is given in Abbreviations dictionary, 5th edition (1978), p. 460.
• an article in the UN chronicle (2006) says surprisingly little given the title, but does state (p. 70) "in the upper right-hand corner, a golden sun with 24 rays of light shines, signifying how precious each hour of the day truly is."
• World Book's encyclopedia of flags (2005) reports on p. 40 that following the genocide: "many Rwandans associated the banner with Hutu extremists."
• Rwanda and Rundi (Ikinyarwanda - Ikirundi) newspaper reader (2002) has some very interesting content on p. 149, producing a translation of contemporary news reporting on the post-genocide flag change. This being said, I don't know how useable it is as a primary, biased source, even with attribution. The bishop of Rwanda (2007) by John Rucyahana (awful article) says something similar, expanding.

Other:

• I may have a look later at the best way to have find French/Kinyarwanda sources. One thing I would suggest you can do on your end is contact libraries: the University of Rwanda library appears to be the largest in the country and they have a ask a librarian service. I can't access the Rwandan National Library website (maybe it's down, maybe it's geolocked) but a website archive from May linked out to an ask a librarian service.

Whonting (talk) 22:27, 19 July 2026 (UTC) reply

Sorry for the delay here, I have run into some walls (location, language etc) with searching for the French/Kinyarwanda sources. I think it's worth poking an editor in Belgium (there seem to be a few) who can see the results of the Royal Library of Belgium's online public access catalogue, it looks as though there may be some info worth excavating. Apart from that, I wouldn't bother digging too deep. Comments on prose to round out the review:

• I don't think there's too many examples, but a sweep of WP:THEGAME will be helpful I think, e.g. "The design of the flag is defined". Along the same lines, suggest trimming "A black "R" was later added to the flag's centre in(追記) that (追記ここまで) September 1961.", "Critics viewed the move as an attempt by the RPF to symbolically assert its(追記) RPF (追記ここまで) rule."
• There's a bit in the lead where the reader is made to do more work than needed. This might seem a bit fussy, but hopefully you will indulge me:
  • "The national flag of Rwanda is a horizontal tricolour of light blue, yellow, and green, in a 2:1:1 ratio" giving the ratio after the colors encourages backtracking. I don't see above if I quoted one text's treatment, which I intended to do, but I much prefered the naturalistic language of one source, along the lines of "The top half of the flag is taken up by a horizontal band of light blue, and the bottom split evenly in bands of yellow and green."
  • The timeline is a bit confusing around independence: the original flag was adopted following the coup of Gitarama. The coup saw the abolishment of the monarchy and the establishment of a republic. An update came later, in September. Yet we say the flag was "adopted shortly before independence"?
  • "The government of the Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), which in 1994 overthrew the Hutu-led government and ended the Rwandan genocide, announced in 1999 its intention to change the national flag," More straightfoward to say In 1994, the Tutsi-led... overthrew."
• I begin to skim the Design and symbolism section, with the statistics washing over me. Is there a better way to present this in prose? Otherwise, a table or list may be more appropriate (MOS:PROSE) for some of the contents. The standard at FA is that prose must be engaging, and although I am a bit tired, I suspect this falls a bit short. That being said, Roy has a good nose for that stuff, so if he doesn't see issue then you should be fine at FAC.
• Some conversions from francs to USD will be helpful, you will only need to do this once since all the numbers are factors of 10. I notice you cite a primary source for this from 17+ years ago. Have these fines increased with inflation, which I understand has been fairly high in the country? Is MOS:DATED applicable?
• "saw the abolition of the Tutsi-dominated kingdom" Better to first establish that there was a Tutsi-dominated kingdom, or kingdom at all, in place.
• The article reads as quite skeptical of the flag being changed due to associations with Hutu supremacy / genocide. I recall getting a less strident read from the sources I read and supplied above, worth reviewing. That being said, I understand how such a strident reading would come from Burnet.