Which African country's flag has a black horizontal stripe edged in white on a light blue background? Botswana. Its flag uses a broad black central stripe bordered by narrow white bands across a light-blue field.
Botswana adopted the design on 30 September 1966, when it became independent from the United Kingdom. The light blue is associated with water and rain, a particularly meaningful symbol in a largely dry country. The white and black bands are commonly explained as representing racial harmony and cooperation between Botswana's communities.
The design was also deliberately distinctive in southern Africa. Unlike many regional flags, it does not rely mainly on Pan-African colours, and its simple layout avoids the complex heraldry seen on South Africa's flag. Readers sometimes confuse it with Lesotho's flag, which also uses blue, white, and black, but Lesotho includes a black Basotho hat and its stripes run horizontally without Botswana's white-edged central bar.