Fera: Moi�s waking nightmare
Contrary to common belief, investigations reveal that FERA was a real threat to Moi�s Government. It had all the structures that define a military outfit with its own anthem and a 70-page, 12-point manifesto that spelt its vision. Among others, it had demanded scrapping of the 8:4:4 system of education, and the reburial of Field Marshall Dedan Kimathi�s remains.
It was called February Eighteen in remembrance of the date Kimathi � Kenya�s most famous Mau Mau freedom fighter � was hanged by British colonialists in 1957 to draw a multi-ethnic following from Kenyans nostalgic about the Independence struggle. "We wanted the support of Kikuyus also," says a FERA rebel back in the country.
Indeed, when FERA emerged, many politicians and analysts dismissed it as yet another phantom of the Governmnent because, at that time, the country was awash with talk of anti-government plots. Two MPs, Njenga Mungai of Molo and Githunguri�s Njehu Gatabaki had been charged with subversion.
In fact, in the publication, We Lived to Tell: The Nyayo House Story, which documents the torture of dissidents and Opposition activists, nothing is mentioned about FERA, a movement that almost everyone had dismissed as a creation of Moi�s inner circle as a pretext to suppress political opposition. This view was buttressed by Kanu�s attempt to draw parallels between the guerrilla movement and Opposition leadership.
Methodical persecution
The Government embarked on methodical suppression of perceived members or collaborators with the movement, arresting and detaining 300 people. Among those detained and tortured was 74-year old Joseph Barasa Wekesa, who served time in Kamiti Maximum Security Prison following conviction on FERA-related charges in 1995. He still believes FERA never existed. "FERA was a creation of the state, there was nothing like a guerrilla movement in Bungoma." He was one of the many innocent people caught in the crossfire.
FERA�s military commander, Brig John Odongo, once claimed on the British Broadcasting Corporation radio that 10,000 guerrillas he trained had infiltrated Kenya and were waiting to launch attacks on the Moi government. It did not happen but the leader of the political wing, Patrick Wangamati, confirmed that FERA had 250 specialised commandos although more than 1,000 recruits were trained.
Kofi Annan
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, former US President Jimmy Carter, Nigeria�s Olusegun Obasanjo and former Commonwealth Secretary-General Emeka Anyaoku were among those who moved to thaw the frosty relations between Kenya and Uganda. Carter and Anyaoku met the FERA rebels, Ugandan authorities and representatives of the Kenyan leadership to iron out the differences. On the request of Ghanaian leader Jerry Rawlings, Annan was able to link the rebel leaders to Moi, who negotiated an amnesty resulting in Wangamati�s return home.
"Rawlings took up the matter with Annan," says Wangamati who, together with Odongo, spent three years in Accra after being deported from Uganda. Annan interceded with Moi, leading to his return. "I talked to Moi by phone, he requested I write to him seeking a pardon," says Wangamati.
While Brigadier Odongo is reportedly ailing in exile, Wangamati, is back home in Webuye going about his life.
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Although FERA�s military training was carried out in Nakivale, Uganda, and in the caves of Mt Elgon, dozens of guerrillas were also sent for training in Libya and Sudan, a situation which almost compromised relations between Kenya and the leader of the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement, John Garang.
In March 1995, Garang claimed that 300 Islamic Kenyan Mujaheedin were training in Sudan to attack Kenya. Garang had been earmarked as part of a wider plan to topple governments in the region. Sudan was to be the fourth to be attacked after Kenya, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, then known as Zaire under deposed strongman Mobutu Sese Seko.
"FERA contributed a lot in removing Kanu and Moi from power," says Wangamati. "We told Carter, Obasanjo and Anyaoku that Moi was a dictator. They helped preach this to the rest of the world, which turned Kenya into a pariah nation in the eyes of the world."
Of the estimated 30 Kenyans who died in the onslaught on FERA agents, most of them were residents of Sirisia which, a year earlier, had been ravaged by politically-instigated ethnic clashes pitting the majority Bukusu sub-tribe of the Luhya against the Sabaot, who are loosely related to the Kalenjin tribe.
The 1991-2 battle for Sirisia cost many lives and forced several Bukusu young men to flee into Uganda in search of arms to defend their own. Some ended up in Mbale, where they met Odongo and the South African herbalist Jood Mafokeng. Mbale was also the operation base for Odongo and a training ground for FERA.
Sirisia, now represented by Foreign Affairs assistant minister Moses Wetangula, is less than 10 kilometers from the Kenya-Uganda border. Despite the ample rainfall it receives, it is one of the most under-developed areas in Bungoma District because of its poor soil.
Between late 1994 and early 1995, many Bukusu opinion leaders and professionals were picked up by the police late in the evenings or at night, blindfolded and whisked to Naivasha Maximum Prison or Kamiti where they were tortured before being presented in court on trumped-up charges.
Those arrested were viewed as outspoken against the clashes and might have been key to organising the resistance.
The mole
The government dispatched a mole to Uganda to infiltrate the insurgents. He spent about a year with FERA leaders. His final report, which highly exaggerated the movement�s strength, said Brig Odongo had about 3,000 troops ready to raid Kenya.
The undercover agent detailed targets, which included Gilgil Barracks, State House, Office of the President, President Moi and Cabinet Minister Nicholas Biwott. The attack on the Gilgil military installation was code-named "Operation Victoria", according to intelligence sources.
With regard to Biwott, a section of a road to his home in the Rift Valley was surveyed and a particular stretch identified for the planting of the explosives timed to go off when his convoy passed there in October 1994. A few guerrillas were to be positioned around the spot to finish the job in case he escaped death.
According to intelligence reports, the elimination of Biwott "was discussed over 10 times" at Burton Street, the FERA secretariat in Kampala.
Intelligence Report
The covert report fingered senior NRA officials as behind FERA. Among them was Museveni�s brother, General Salim Saleh, who was at the time a top commander in the NRA.
Said the Intelligence report: "Thus it was not a surprise when I heard a week later in August that Ali Mukanga and some lieutenants from Zaire were now in Mt Elgon helping FERA to launch attacks against Kenyan installations. Major Mukanga was said to be in command of the Kimathi Battallion ... Officially, FERA had four key battalions in all, each commanded by a major or colonel.
"When I joined the group in late May, the figure of recruits was said to be slightly below 3,000 ... but when I left after being unmasked, the figure was confirmed from records to be 2,800."
It was on the basis of this report that the government went into instant action by arresting would-be FERA sympathisers and seeking the international community�s help in blacklisting Museveni for hosting anti-Kenya elements.
But the 8,000-word intelligence report also overstated the threat. In fact, FERA had about 250 troops although 1,000 had been trained since 1987. It also did not reveal FERA�s plan against Moi Barracks and some installations in Nairobi, such as the Office of the President, Harambee House.
By the time Wangamati and Odongo were moved to Ghana following external pressure on Museveni in March 1995, FERA was beset by leadership squabbles.
Having failed to garner a following, and with Museveni�s support appearing to waver, Odongo decided to bank his hopes on brinkmanship, much to the distress of Wangamati. On one occasion, he directed the soldiers to invade Kenya without any due regard to logistics and inherent threats. | 
