SUMMARY
KNUFNS (Kampuchean National United Front for National Salvation; alternatively Front Uni National pour le Salut du Kampuchéa, FUNSK; Salvation Front; later Kampuchean People’s Revolutionary Party, KPRP, and Cambodian People’s Party, CPP) was an armed group that fought an intrastate armed conflict over government against the Government of Cambodia (Kampuchea). The primary objective of the KNUFNS was to overthrow the Government of Cambodia (Kampuchea), which at the time was controlled by the Khmer Rouge (KR) and its leader Pol Pot; the group also claimed that it intended to rebuild Cambodia.
The KNUFNS was created on 3 December 1978, and its existence was broadcast via the Vietnamese Radio Hanoi. The group was headed by a fourteen-member Central Committee, which was led by “President” Heng Samrin and “Vice-president” Chea Sim. While the group included many non-communist elements, it was primarily a rallying point for various Cambodian Communist and other left-wing sympathizers, many of whom had been exiled because of Pol Pot’s purges. For example, both top leaders Heng and Chea were former high-ranking officials in the Kampuchea Communist Party (KCP, see KR). The anti-Pol Pot stance of the KNUFNS meant that the group attracted considerable support among exiled Cambodians. In Cambodia, the group maintained its strongholds in the eastern and northeastern parts of the country. In 1978, it was estimated that the KNUFNS had access to approximately 20 000 troops.
The KNUFNS received considerable secondary warring support from Vietnam (North Vietnam). On 22 December 1978, the Vietnamese Communist regime deployed 120 000 soldiers, tanks, heavy artillery, and warplanes in a full-scale invasion of Cambodia to assist the KNUFNS in overthrowing the KR-led Government of Cambodia (Kampuchea). Troops from Vietnam (North Vietnam) remained in Cambodia from 1979 and until 1989, which helped the successor parties of KNUFNS to maintain power. The Vietnamese support to the KNUFNS-led regime was so extensive that it was considered a Vietnamese “puppet regime”, by some sources. The KNUFNS also received covert support from the Soviet Union.
The conflict against the Khmer Rouge-led government) ended in victory for the KNUFNS in January 1979, following the full-scale Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia (Kampuchea). In 1979, the KNUFNS took control over the Government of Cambodia (Kampuchea) by creating a governing body called the Kampuchean People’s Revolutionary Council (KPRC), and by proclaiming the Communist People’s Republic of Kampuchea (PRK). The group’s successor party Cambodian People’s Party (CPP, called the Kampuchean People’s Revolutionary Party, KPRP, until 1991) has remained in government until the present day (for more on this, please consult Government of Cambodia (Kampuchea)). The UCDP thus considered KNUFNS as the Government of Cambodia (Kampuchea) from January 1979.
