Last modified: 2002-08-30 by jarig bakker
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![[Angola - FLEC]](../images/a/ao}flec.gif)
by Jarig Bakker, 6 Apr 2001, after image scanned by David Cohen,
4 Apr 2001 from the "Flags of Aspirant Peoples" chart.
To the north of Angola proper is the enclave of Cabinda, which is rich
in oil and therefore has considerable significance both to the Angolan
government and the western oil companies who exploit it. In 1963 a movement
called the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC) was
formed to press for independence for this territory. FLEC was largely inert
during the war against the Portuguese and languished afterwards, although
UNITA staged some attacks against oil installations. FLEC was reformed
in 1984 and began operations against the MPLA regime. It is currently in
negotiation with the government.
FLEC has had its own factional problems and there is (or was) also
an organization calling itself 'UNALEC' (presumably, the National Union
for the Liberation of the Enclave in Cabinda). Whether this was a split
from FLEC, a UNITA front, or merely another name for FLEC, is not clear.
Another organization is the Cabinda Democratic Front.
A flag for FLEC has been reported by "Flags
of Aspirant Peoples". It is shown as being a light blue over yellow
over red tricolor. In the centre is a brown circle, containing a green
triangle on which there is a white star. I have little information regarding
the accuracy or symbolism of this flag, although I have seen the triangle/circle
device, in black and white, on FLEC literature, so I believe this part
at least to be accurate.
Stuart Notholt, 10 Jan 1996
As one of the co-authors of the Flags of Aspirant Peoples Chart in 1994,
I hope that it may be of interest to inform you where John Edwards and
I obtained our rendition from. It cam from two different sources;
the description from Vexillinfo No. 66, Page 66; and the diagram from a
book called Flags of the World - 1981, Page 248 (not the Barraclough/Crampton
book). I can not find a copy of this book in my collection, it may have
been one of John's books, who no longer lives in Australia. Our design
was further confirmed by Mr. Jacek Skorupski of Warsaw, Poland, who kindly
sent me a copy of his work, Flagi Malo Znane (Little Known Flags)
dated May 1991. He had the central green triangle pointing down but everything
else the same.
Ralph Bartlett (Co-Author, Flags of Aspirant Peoples Chart),
6 Apr 2001