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.
***
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.
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