The flag of Sudan (Arabic: علم السودان‎) was adopted on May 20, 1970, and consists of a red-white-black tricolor with a green triangle next to the hoist. Prior to the 1969 military coup of Gaafar Nimeiry, a blue-yellow-green tricolor design was used. The current flag, to show Sudan's connection to the other Arab states, bears strong resemblance to the Flag of the Arab Revolt.

According to World Flags 101:

“ Red, white, black and green are called the pan-Arab colors and have been historically linked to the Arab people and Islamic religion for centuries. The colors stand for Arab unity and independence. The red stripe represents Sudan's struggle for independence and many other struggles, and the sacrifices of the country's martyrs. The white represents peace, light and optimism. It also represents the White Flag League which was a nationalist group that rose up against colonial rule in 1924. The black represents Sudan; in Arabic 'Sudan' means black. It also represents the black flag of nationalists who fought colonial rule during the Kimokino Revolution, late in 19th century. Green represents Islam, agriculture and the prosperity of the land. ”

Historical flags
In 1881, at the beginning of the Mahdist Revolt, the Mahdi Muhammad Ahmad appointed Abdallahi ibn Muhammad as one of his four caliphs (Khalifa) and handed him a black flag. Abdallahi used his black flag to recruit Baggara Arabs and other tribes from the west. The other caliphs used differently colored flags. The black horizontal stripe in the current Sudanese flag is a reference to this Mahdist-era black flag.

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