The first national flag of Eritrea had a green horizontal stripe on the top and a blue stripe on the bottom.
There is a red triangle with the base on the hoist side. The triangle stretches to the other side of the flag. The olive leaf wreath was adopted from the United Nations flag.
Eritrea wanted independence but in 1952 the U.N. approved the annexation of Eritrea by Ethiopia. The civil rights of the citizens of Eritrea were regularly violated by the Ethiopians.
In 1958 there was a movement against the Ethiopian rule, Eritrea Liberation movement. Over time it became the Eritrean Liberation front. Syria and Iraq gave them some support and ELPF, a.k.a. the Eritrean Liberation People’s Front a multi ethnic coalition whose goal is to liberate Eritrea despite the fact that the Soviets gave massive amounts of arms to Ethiopia in 1988.
The Eritrean forces captured a head quarter post in the northeast of their country at least one third of the Ethiopian forces were rendered ineffective.
In 1991 Ethiopia recognized the right of the Eritrean people to hold a vote on independence. The United Nations held a referendum. Independence was declared on 27 April 1993 along the border.
The flag was officially adopted on 5 December 1995 making it one of the newest flags in the world. Would you like to know why Eritrea used the wreath of olive leaves with the one erect branch? It was adopted to honor the United Nations work for peace.