Flag: Western Sahara Emoji

The flag of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), assigned by Unicode to the ISO code EH (Western Sahara). It is a pan-Arab horizontal tricolor of black, white, and green, with a red triangle issuing from the hoist and a red crescent and five-pointed star centered on the white stripe. The colors are the pan-Arab Hashemite palette used by Palestine, Jordan, and the historical flags of Iraq and Syria, with the crescent and star marking it as Islamic. The flag was adopted on February 27, 1976, the day SADR was proclaimed by the Polisario Front in Bir Lehlou after Spain's withdrawal from the territory.

A neutral note on the dispute. Western Sahara is a non-self-governing territory under UN supervision. The territory has been administered de facto by Morocco (covering roughly 80%, west of the Berm wall) and by SADR (the eastern 'Free Zone' and the Sahrawi refugee camps near Tindouf in Algeria) since the 1991 ceasefire. Morocco proposed an Autonomy Plan in 2007 under Moroccan sovereignty; the Polisario Front advocates a self-determination referendum that includes independence as an option. As of late 2025, UN Security Council Resolution 2797 frames Morocco's autonomy plan as the basis for negotiations. SADR is recognized by around 35 UN member states and is a full member of the African Union. Morocco's claim is recognized or supported by around 118 countries, including the US, France, Spain, the UK, and Germany.

The emoji is a regional indicator sequence: U+1F1EA REGIONAL INDICATOR SYMBOL LETTER EU+1F1EA REGIONAL INDICATOR SYMBOL LETTER E + U+1F1ED REGIONAL INDICATOR SYMBOL LETTER HU+1F1ED REGIONAL INDICATOR SYMBOL LETTER H. EH comes from 'Spanish Sahara' (Sahara Español, hence ES-H became EH after standardization). Added to Emoji 1.0 in 2015. On most platforms the emoji renders the SADR flag; on a few (notably some Microsoft installations), it falls back to the letters EH or to a generic banner.

🇪🇭 sits in a unique slot. The flag is one of the most politically charged in the global emoji set, but day-to-day usage is small relative to that weight. Three communities post it most.

Sahrawi diaspora and SADR-aligned activists. The Polisario Front's 50-year campaign for self-determination has supporters across Spain (the former colonial power, with a large solidarity movement), Italy, France, the US, Algeria, Cuba, Venezuela, South Africa, and Algeria-hosted refugee camps. 🇪🇭 appears in posts marking Sahrawi National Day (February 27), FiSahara film festival, and protests against natural-resource exploitation.

Human-rights and humanitarian accounts. Approximately 173,600 people live in the Tindouf refugee camps (per UN figures; estimates vary widely). They have been there for 50 years, making it one of the most protracted refugee situations in the world. NGO accounts (UNHCR, ECHO, Oxfam, Amnesty International) post 🇪🇭 in coverage of camp conditions, water access, and the 2020 ceasefire collapse.

Vexillology and political-news communities. The flag is widely posted on flag-design Twitter, on UN-watch accounts, and in coverage of every annual MINURSO mandate renewal at the UN Security Council. 🇪🇭 also appears alongside 🇲🇦 in any coverage of the Western Sahara dispute, which is part of why the Mauritania flag's iron-ore train (which crosses through Polisario-controlled territory) sometimes ends up in the Western Sahara news rotation by accident.

FiSahara and cultural events. The Sahara International Film Festival, held annually in the Tindouf refugee camps since 2003, is the only film festival in the world held in a refugee camp. It draws international filmmakers, journalists, and musicians (Manu Chao, Macaco, Fermín Muguruza have all performed). 🇪🇭 spikes annually in the spring around the festival.

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  Claimed capital: El Aaiún (claimed by SADR; under Moroccan administration). SADR de facto seat: Tifariti.
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  Population: ~620,000 in the territory, ~173,600 in Tindouf refugee camps (Algeria)
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  Area: 266,000 km² (slightly smaller than the UK)
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  Currency: Moroccan dirham (MAD) in Moroccan-administered area; SADR has no separate currency
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  Languages: Hassaniya Arabic (daily), Modern Standard Arabic, Spanish (legacy from 1884-1975 Spanish rule)
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  Calling code: +212 (Moroccan-administered area)
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  Time zone: WET (UTC+0), with DST in Moroccan-administered area
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  Internet TLD: .eh (reserved, not in active use)

Foods that show up next to 🇪🇭

Cultural touchstones

Western Sahara was a Spanish colonial territory from 1884 to 1975, known as Spanish Sahara (Sahara Español) and held primarily for its phosphate reserves, Atlantic fishing waters, and proximity to the Canary Islands. Spain's nearly century-long rule ended abruptly in November 1975 with the Madrid Accords, which transferred administration to Morocco and Mauritania. Spain withdrew on February 26, 1976.

The Polisario Front (founded 1973), the Sahrawi national-liberation movement, rejected the Madrid handover. On February 27, 1976, the day after Spain's departure, the Polisario proclaimed the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) in the desert town of Bir Lehlou and adopted the new flag designed by El Ouali Mustapha Sayed, the Polisario's first secretary-general (killed in combat months later). The flag deliberately drew on the Hashemite pan-Arab palette shared with Palestine and Jordan to signal both Arab and Islamic identity and a connection to other liberation movements.

The 16-year war and the 1991 ceasefire. Morocco moved into the territory in November 1975 with the Green March, a peaceful but politically decisive procession of around 350,000 unarmed Moroccans. Mauritania occupied the southern third until withdrawing in 1979. The Polisario fought a guerrilla war against Morocco for 16 years, including building supply tunnels and underground command centers inside the territory. The UN-brokered ceasefire of September 6, 1991 created MINURSO, a peacekeeping mission with the original mandate of organizing a self-determination referendum that has never been held.

The current state. Morocco built a 2,700 km berm wall (the world's longest active military barrier) through the territory, separating Moroccan-administered areas (about 80% of the territory, including the Atlantic coast and the El Aaiún population center) from the Polisario-administered Free Zone in the east. The 1991 ceasefire collapsed in November 2020, and low-intensity hostilities have continued since. UN Security Council Resolution 2797 (October 2025) renewed MINURSO for another year and emphasized Morocco's 2007 Autonomy Proposal as the basis for ongoing negotiations.

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  February 27: Sahrawi National Day: Marks the 1976 proclamation of SADR in Bir Lehlou. Celebrated in SADR-administered areas and the Tindouf refugee camps in Algeria.
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  May 10: Polisario Anniversary: Marks the 1973 founding of the Polisario Front.
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  May 20: Anniversary of the Armed Struggle: Marks the start of the 1973 Sahrawi armed liberation movement against Spain, later against Morocco and Mauritania.
• June 9: Martyrs' Day: Commemorates fallen Sahrawi fighters.

• •Western Sahara is the only non-self-governing territory under UN supervision in Africa, recognized as such since 1963.
• •FiSahara is the only film festival in the world held inside a refugee camp; it has run annually in the Tindouf camps in Algeria since 2003.
• •The Sahrawi refugee camps near Tindouf have an adult literacy rate of around 90% (up from 5% at the camps' founding in 1976), one of the highest among long-term refugee populations.
• •Morocco's berm wall through Western Sahara is around 2,700 km long, making it the world's longest active military barrier.
• •SADR is a full member of the African Union and is recognized by around 35 UN member states.
• •Spanish remains a working language in SADR institutions thanks to the 1884 to 1975 Spanish colonial period, making Western Sahara one of the few Spanish-using polities in Africa alongside Equatorial Guinea.
• •The Mauritanian iron-ore train crosses 5 km of Polisario-controlled Western Saharan territory each direction during its 17-hour Sahara journey.
• •The Sahrawi tea ritual (three rounds, getting sweeter each time) shares the same Hassaniya proverb as Mauritania: 'first bitter as life, second strong as love, third gentle as death.'