The flag of Mali (French: Drapeau du Mali) is a tricolor with three equal vertical stripes. From the hoist the colours are green, gold, and red, the pan-African colors. Note that this flag is identical to the Flag of Guinea with the exception that the colors are in reverse order.
The current flag was adopted on March 1, 1961. The original flag was adopted on April 4, 1959, when Mali joined the Mali Federation. This flag was the same, except the golden stripe had a human stick figure, a kanaga, in black, with arms raised to the sky. The figure was removed because of Islamic aniconism, the belief against making pictures of the human figure (Mali is about 90% Muslim).
After the two countries (Senegal and Mali) split up in 1960, the flag was kept for use in Mali until March 1, 1961, when the kanaga emblem was dropped.