The Sahrawi National Union Party, or ''Partido de Unión Nacional Saharaui'' (PUNS), was a short-lived
political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...
set up by
Francoist Spain
Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spai ...
to rally
indigenous
Indigenous may refer to:
*Indigenous peoples
*Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention
*Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band
*Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...
support in its rebellious
Spanish Sahara
Spanish Sahara ( es, Sahara Español; ar, الصحراء الإسبانية, As-Sahrā'a Al-Isbānīyah), officially the Spanish Possessions in the Sahara from 1884 to 1958 then Province of the Sahara between 1958 and 1976, was the name used f ...
colony
In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the ''metropole, metropolit ...
(presently
Western Sahara
Western Sahara ( '; ; ) is a disputed territory on the northwest coast and in the Maghreb region of North and West Africa. About 20% of the territory is controlled by the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), while the r ...
).
Creation of PUNS
The PUNS was created in late 1974 as the Partido Revolucionario Progresivo (Revolutionary Progressive Party), but soon changed its name. It was composed mainly of members of the
Djema'a
The term Djema'a (or Djemaa, meaning "Congregation" or "Gathering" in Arabic) can refer to two things in a Western Sahara context.
Djema'a: tribal leadership
The Djema'a was the leading body in a Sahrawi tribe, composed of elders and elected le ...
, a
tribalist
Tribalism is the state of being organized by, or advocating for, tribes or tribal lifestyles. Human evolution has primarily occurred in small hunter-gatherer groups, as opposed to in larger and more recently settled agricultural societies or civ ...
political body set up for similar purposes in the 1950s. Its flag is based on the Spanish flag for the
Ifni
Ifni was a Spanish province on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, south of Agadir and across from the Canary Islands. It had a total area of , and a population of 51,517 in 1964. The main industry was fishing. The present-day Moroccan province in th ...
-Sahara maritime province (1946-1975).
PUNS was during its time the only legal party within the territory of Francoist Spain, except the ruling
Falange Española
Falange Española (FE; English: Spanish Phalanx) was a Spanish fascist political organization active from 1933 to 1934.
History
The Falange Española was created on 29 October 1933 as the successor of the Movimiento Español Sindicalista (MES ...
. PUNS was allowed to send delegates to the
Cortes
Cortes, Cortés, Cortês, Corts, or Cortès may refer to:
People
* Cortes (surname), including a list of people with the name
** Hernán Cortés (1485–1547), a Spanish conquistador
Places
* Cortes, Navarre, a village in the South border of N ...
(Parliament) in
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
. It had no decision making powers, and was more an instrument of the military governors in Western Sahara. Its leaders and creators,
Khellihenna Ould Errachid and
Dueh Sidna Naucha, worked in close collaboration with Spanish authorities.
Political profile
The party's political program was supportive of Spain, and changed according to the rapid evolution of Spanish policy. In first months of its existence, its political activity mainly consisted of statements denouncing the
Polisario Front
The Polisario Front, Frente Polisario, Frelisario or simply Polisario, from the Spanish abbreviation of (Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Río de Oro), (in ar, rtl=yes, الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير الس ...
, a
nationalist
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...
guerrilla which had by then taken over most of the countryside. PUNS also advocated independence as a distant goal to be preceded by autonomy within Spain, and conditional on good relations with the government in Madrid.
As the prospect of
Moroccan invasion began to seem ever likelier after the 1975
on Western Sahara, the colonial authorities allowed the PUNS to increase its demands for independence and campaign intensely against Moroccan ambitions, even threatening armed struggle against an invasion.
As the difference of opinion rapidly shrank, the rank-and-file PUNS membership gravitated towards the Polisario, and as early as May 1975, the leaders of PUNS met with POLISARIO's Secretary General,
El-Ouali, who consistently condemned the party as a "puppet" of
fascism
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...
and
colonialism
Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their relig ...
. Many members were also present at the
Ain Ben Tili and
Guelta Zemmur
Guelta Zemmur (or Guelta Zemour, Tamazight for "olive tree pool") is a small town or village in the Moroccan-administered part of the territory of Western Sahara.
The town is based around a guelta or oasis, retaining rain water for long periods. ...
conferences, although not as representatives of the party, but rather of the Djema'a or their tribal groupings.
In mid-1975, PUNS seemed to simultaneously be slipping out of Spanish control and losing its political relevance, since Spain had agreed in principle to relinquish control of the Western Sahara and consequently no longer had a need for a loyalist political party there. In addition to this, Polisario remained distrustful, and did not accept the demand of PUNS leaders to form a common political front while preserving the party's internal structure. El-Ouali instead insisted that the PUNS dissolve itself and that its supporters could join the Polisario Front as regular members.
Collapse in 1975
On July 6, 1975, the first clashes between PUNS and Polisario membership took place in
El Aaiun
Laâyoune ( , also , ) or El Aaiún ( , ; Hassaniya Arabic: , romanized: ; ber, ⵍⵄⵢⵓⵏ, Leɛyun; ar, label= Literary Arabic, العيون, al-ʿUyūn/el-ʿUyūn, lit=The Springs) is the largest city of the disputed territory of W ...
, with several wounded. The night before, the PUNS offices in
Smara
Smara ( ar, السمارة ''as-Samāra'', also romanized ''Semara''; es, Esmara) is a city in the Moroccan-controlled part of Western Sahara, with a population of 57,035 recorded in the 2014 Moroccan census. It is served by Smara Airport and Sm ...
were burned by POLISARIO members.
In October, PUNS sent telegrams to the 1975 UN visiting mission members protesting the portray given in their report of Errachid as PUNS Secretary General, as he had been expelled of the party on May 14 for his
treason
Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
. In the night of November 14, 1975, the remaining members of the party, headed by last Secretary General Dueh Sidina Naucha, dissolved the PUNS, giving the affiliates the chance to join the Polisario Front.
As Morocco and Mauritania invaded in November 1975, after the
Madrid Accords
The Madrid Accords, formally the Declaration of Principles on Western Sahara, was a treaty between Spain, Morocco, and Mauritania setting out six principles which would end the Spanish presence in the territory of Spanish Sahara and arrange a t ...
, Spain abandoned PUNS, and what little remained of the party instantly collapsed. Its membership dispersed: many were swept away in the refugee exodus to
Tindouf
Tindouf ( Berber: Tinduf, ar, تندوف) is the main town, and a commune in Tindouf Province, Algeria, close to the Mauritanian, Western Saharan and Moroccan borders. The commune has population of around 160,000 but the census and population ...
,
Algeria
)
, image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Algiers
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, relig ...
, where they joined the Polisario. A small number, including some prominent leaders, instead went to Morocco, where they denounced their own earlier nationalist campaign and lent their support to the claims of
King
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
Hassan II Hassan, Hasan, Hassane, Haasana, Hassaan, Asan, Hassun, Hasun, Hassen, Hasson or Hasani may refer to:
People
*Hassan (given name), Arabic given name and a list of people with that given name
*Hassan (surname), Arabic, Jewish, Irish, and Scottis ...
to Western Sahara — notably, PUNS leader Khellihenna Ould Errachid, who still today (2012) acts as the Moroccan monarchy's main Sahrawi face to its claims to Western Sahara. Dueh Sidina Naucha went to Spain in 1975. In 1987 he surprisingly reappeared in the
Liberated Territories
Liberation or liberate may refer to:
Film and television
* ''Liberation'' (film series), a 1970–1971 series about the Great Patriotic War
* "Liberation" (''The Flash''), a TV episode
* "Liberation" (''K-9''), an episode
Gaming
* '' Liberati ...
during a UN technical visiting mission. He declared that even though not a Polisario member, he is a
Sahrawi, so he support the Polisario Front as the legit representative of the Sahrawi people. Naucha added that after the
Green March
The Green March was a strategic mass demonstration in November 1975, coordinated by the Moroccan government, to force Spain to hand over the disputed, autonomous semi-metropolitan province of Spanish Sahara to Morocco. At that time, the Spani ...
"our 20,000 (PUNS) militants integrated the POLISARIO: in war it is needed to fight united".
He now lives in the
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...
. A very small number of activists went to Mauritania, supporting the
Ould Daddah government's claims on the territory until its collapse in 1978.
References
Further reading
*Tony Hodges (1983), ''Western Sahara: The Roots of a Desert War'', Lawrence Hill Books ()
*Anthony G. Pazzanita and Tony Hodges (1994), ''Historical Dictionary of Western Sahara'', Scarecrow Press ({{ISBN, 0-8108-2661-5)
Western Sahara conflict
Political parties in Western Sahara
Defunct political parties in Spain
History of Western Sahara
Sahrawi nationalism
Francoist Spain
Political parties established in 1974
Political parties disestablished in 1975