Partido de Unión Nacional Saharaui (PUNS, Sahrawi National Union Party) was a short-lived political party set up by Spain to rally support in its rebellious Spanish Sahara colony (now Western Sahara).

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, a tribalist political body set up for similar purposes in the 1950s (after the 1957 Invasion of Spanish Sahara had nearly ousted Spain from its colony).

PUNS was the only legal party in Fascist Spain except the ruling Falange, and was allowed to send delegates to the Cortes (Parliament) in Madrid. It had no decision making powers, and was more an instrument of the military governors in Western Sahara.

Political profile

Its 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, a nationalist 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 ICJ verdict 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 PUNS membership gravitated towards the Polisario, and as early as May of 1975, the leaders of PUNS met with Polisario's Secretary General, El-Ouali, who consistently condemned the party as a "puppet" of Fascism and colonialism. Many members were also present at the Ain Ben Tili and Guelta Zemmur conferences, although not as representatives of the party, but rather the Djema'a or tribal groupings.

In mid-1975, PUNS seemed to simultaneously be slipping out of Spanish control and losing its political relevance, since Spain no longer had a need for a loyal political party in Western Sahara. 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 as regular members.

Collapse in 1975

As Morocco and Mauritania invaded in the winter of 1975, after the Madrid Accords, 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, Algeria, where they joined the Polisario; a minor number, including some prominent leaders, instead went to Morocco, where they denounced their earlier nationalist campaign to support the claims of King Hassan II to Western Sahara. Some also went to Mauritania.

In retrospect, the party had little or no effect on the political dynamics of Spanish/Western Sahara. The colonial practice of creating "loyal opposition" to draw away support for nationalist movements had been tried with greater success in several European colonies, but in the case of Western Sahara, it was too little, too late.

Further reading

---

• Tony Hodges (1983), Western Sahara: The Roots of a Desert War, Lawrence Hill Books (ISBN 0882081527)
• Anthony G. Pazzanita and Tony Hodges (1994), Historical Dictionary of Western Sahara, Scarecrow Press (ISBN 0810826615)

Political parties in Western Sahara | Political parties in Spain | History of Western Sahara