 The flag of South Sudan is older than the country itself, as the flag was adopted in 2005, while the country became independent in 2011.When Sudan became independent in 1956, the predominantly Christian people living in the south of the country had no regional symbols, while the already dominant Muslim north displayed Islamic symbols on the national flag.Before independence, the British government had arranged for appropriate local symbols for the regions in Sudan, but the new government in independent Sudan had opposed the use of these symbols as being counterproductive to fostering national unity.