what do the colors on mali's flag represent?
Flag of Mali
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 Green is one of the three colors ( along with red and black , or red and gold ) of Pan @-@ Africanism . Several African countries thus use the color on their flags , including Nigeria , South Africa , Ghana , Senegal , Mali , Ethiopia , Togo , Guinea , Benin , and Zimbabwe . The Pan @-@ African colors are borrowed from the Ethiopian flag , one of the oldest independent African countries . Green on some African flags represents the natural richness of Africa . 

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 The standard model of the colours - also adopted in 1911 - is a rectangular flag measuring 1 @.@ 20 metres ( 3 @.@ 94 ft ) in width and 1 @.@ 30 metres ( 4 @.@ 26 ft ) in length ( ratio 12 : 13 ) . Green and red are positioned at the hoist and fly , respectively , but occupy the field in an equal manner ( 1 – 1 ) . Centred over the colour boundary lie the armillary sphere and Portuguese shield , surrounded by two yellow laurel branches intersecting at their stems . These are bound by a white stripe bearing the verse by Luís de Camões " Esta é a ditosa pátria minha amada " ( English : " This is my beloved fortunate motherland " ) as the motto . This differs from the version of coat of arms employed as emblem , where the laurel shoots are tied by a green and red stripe without the verse . The sphere 's outer diameter is ⅓ of the width and lies 35 centimetres ( 14 in ) from the upper edge and 45 centimetres ( 18 in ) from the lower edge . 

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 The flag 's length is equal to 1 1 ⁄ 2 times its width , which translates into an aspect ratio of 2 : 3 . The background is vertically divided into two colours : dark green on the hoist side , and scarlet red on the fly . The colour division is made in a way that green spans 2 ⁄ 5 of the length and the remaining 3 ⁄ 5 are filled by red ( ratio 2 @-@ 3 ) . The lesser version of the national coat of arms ( without the laurel wreaths ) — a white @-@ rimmed national shield on top of a black @-@ highlighted yellow armillary sphere — is positioned over the border between both colours . 

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 The flag is rectangular with 2 : 3 proportions : its fly ( width ) is one and a half times the length of its hoist ( height ) . Twelve gold ( or yellow ) stars are centered in a circle ( the radius of which is a third of the length of the hoist ) upon a blue background . All the stars are upright ( one point straight up ) , have five points and are spaced equally according to the hour positions on the face of a clock . The diameter of each star is equal to one @-@ ninth of the height of the hoist . 

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 Since the introduction of the 1995 flag , several other flags adopted by government agencies or bodies have been modeled on it . 
