The use of the Biafran flag as a symbol of awareness serves multiple purposes within the context of the Biafran cultural and political renaissance:

The Biafra flag consisting of 3-colored horizontal stripes namely Red, Black, Green with a golden 11 rays of a rising sun engraved in the black section. The 3-colored Pan-African renaissance flag which was designed by Jamaican revolutionary, Marcus Garvey in support for Africa’s struggle against colonialism and slavery with the ‘Red’ signifying the blood shed on the African continent by the invaders including those lost in resistance, the ‘Black’ signifying the African continent and peoples all over the world, while the ‘Green’ signifies the wealth of Africa in human as well as natural resources and vegetation, was adopted by the Biafran leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Ojukwu as a staunch Pan-African.

In the Biafran context, the Red signified the lives lost during the pogroms of 1966-70 before Biafra ultimate withdrawal from Nigeria, the ‘Black’ signifying the consistency of the Biafra state as a African nation, the ‘Green’ signifies the rich landscape of the Biafra nation in natural, vegetative and human resources while the 11 rising rays of sun engraved in the black section signifies first 11 provinces created upon the declaration of independence on May 30th 1967, and the geographical position of the Biafra nation in the East part of West Africa, a natural gift which has earned it the title of being often addressed as “land of the rising sun”.

Symbol of Identity and Unity:

The flag as a symbol of identity, with its rising sun, is a powerful emblem of Biafran people especially proponents for its restoration. It represents hope, freedom, and the aspiration for self-determination. For many Igbos, it is not just a flag but a symbol of their cultural heritage and collective memory, especially linking to the Biafran War, a war which they believe was a genocidal global conspiracy.