Movement had external connections in Rwanda and Congo
Standard Reporter
Fera was created by top military elements in Uganda to repay Brig John Odongo�s for his role in ousting former Presidents Milton Obote and Gen Titus Okello.
The Bulgarian-trained military strategist was part of Yoweri Museveni�s National Resistance Army that seized power in January 1986.
It is believed that Odongo, Rwanda�s Fred Gisa Rwigyema and Uganda�s Moses Ali were very close to Museveni in the formative years of Front for National Salvation (precursor to the National Resistance Army) and at one time in the 1970s, they shared a house in Tanzania just before they launched a rebel onslaught against Idi Amin Dada and later Obote.
On taking over power, Obote appointed Odongo as the Intelligence Chief but Museveni and his lieutenants felt this position demeaned the Kenyan�s role in ousting Amin.
They felt shortchanged, and thus rebelled against the regime. A deal of sorts was struck among the three guerrillas: Museveni, Odongo and Rukyema. According to the agreement, Museveni, on seizing power, would support Odongo and Rukyema in their quest to topple their respective governments in Kenya and Rwanda.
Fera was therefore founded on this premise. Rwigyema was later killed in the bush, just before the Rwanda Patriotic Front seized power following the death of the country�s strongman Juvenal Habyarimana in April 1994. His position was taken over by Paul Kagame, the current Rwanda leader.
Unconfirmed reports indicate that Museveni, Rukyema, Raila Odinga and Odongo underwent some sort of military training in Mozambique together.
Top Fera officials claim that among Fera founders were Raila, Masinde Muliro, George Kapten and Martin Shikuku.
Its founders claim Fera was formed partly in reaction to the state�s refusal to register the Kenya Patriotic Front that was linked to politician Koigi Wamwere. The Kanu government rebuffed a move by lawyer Wangondu and Odongo to register KPF in Nairobi. About seven years later, Wangondu was charged with being a member of Fera.
According to a Fera official, Odongo and Museveni were "very close" friends. Odongo, sources claim, temporarily housed Museveni in Kenya when the latter escaped Uganda following his fallout with then President Milton Obote.
Odongo�s boats on Lake Victoria transported food for Museveni�s rebels.
Perhaps this camaraderie explains Uganda�s reluctance to hand over Odongo to Kenya when the Kenya government sought his deportation in 1994 and 1995. Instead, Uganda took him to a third country, Ghana, where he stayed for three years, and just returned to Kenya on amnesty granted by President Moi in 1997.
Uganda argued that Odongo was a refugee protected by international protocols that give runaways rights against persecution. International human rights articles forbid discrimination and the forced repatriation of refugees.
Interviews with former Fera elements indicate that Uganda�s Museveni personally facilitated the existence of the guerrilla movement opposed to the Kenya government. The Uganda leader held a series of meetings with Fera officials where matters about the anti-Kenya rebellion were discussed.
The leader of Fera�s political wing, Patrick Wangamati, attended a number of such meetings, he confirmed in an interview with the East African Standard.
At one of the get-together with Museveni, the two Fera leaders � Odongo and Wangamati � differed on the way forward for the rebel group.
The FEM leader was of the view that the Kenya government could not be toppled by military means while his Fera counterpart, Odongo, felt time was ripe for the boys to raid Kenya and oust Daniel arap Moi.
Their differences almost caused revolt among the Fera rank and file. The young boys felt cheated by inertia on the part of their leaders. It can be recalled that Fera trial raids on Kenya happened after the deportation of Odongo. Fera�s Number Two, Ibrahim Wafula, was more focused and definite, say ex-Fera fighters.
Of interest is that hardly many Kenyans know Odongo. It was only because of Moi�s relentless rebuke of Fera that Odongo was transformed into a household name. Nonetheless, his close aides say his hatred for Moi and Kanu was "fiery". In fact, the killing of the killing of former Foreign Affairs minister Robert Ouko was a turning point in Odongo�s crusade against Kenya, they say.
This son of a Siaya peasant felt Moi had run down the country, failed to recognise Independence fathers, and was "protecting" those he felt had "killed Ouko and Masinde Muliro", according to his aides. He was among Kenyan boys sent by Jaramogi Oginga Odinga to former Communist countries for military training in the late 1960s.
When Okello�s regime collapsed and Museveni had seized power, some top elements in the NRA started plotting against Kenya, Rwanda, Zaire and Sudan. "They wanted to create a sort of empire in the region," says Patrick Wangamati. The only country that hardly fitted in this regional mosaic was Sudan, where Sudan Peoples Liberation Army/Movement leader John Garang was feared to be very close to President Moi and even had military training camps in Turkana area of Kenya.
Kenya was meant to be the first target, then Rwanda, Congo and Sudan, in that order. Somehow, Fera lacked meaningful leadership, and this explains why the Kenyan cause came a cropper. The Rwanda rebellion led by Rwigyema and Kagame was focused and more objective in its approach to toppling the ruling regime, which it did in mid-1994.
Fera was akin to the Mouvement National Congolaise-Lumumba (MNC-L), a rebel outfit that operated in eastern Zaire and was commanded by one major Ali Mukanga, who regularly trained the Kenyan boys at Nakivale and Mt Elgon hideouts. The MNC-L group was in direct contact with Laurent Desire Kabila, who would later toppled Zaire dictator Mobutu Sese Seko in 1997.
The Kenya mission was codenamed "Operation Victoria" while the Zaire one was "Operation Kivu", according to Intelligence sources.
"Fera, RPF and MNC-L were offshoots of NRA," says one of the NSIS officers who unmasked Fera. "Top NRA elements wanted Uganda to be surrounded by friendly regimes."
A number of National Security Intelligence Service (at the time, Special Branch) units were dispatched to Uganda to carry out espionage in a covert bid to expose the guerrilla group. One of them reportedly escaped with classified information from a top Fera official, Jood Mofokeng. "He stole a briefcase that had very important documents," says Patrick Wangamati, who was the leader of the rebel�s political wing, FEM.
Mofokeng was the Fera strategist and link with other guerrilla movements. He helped draw the guerrilla�s "12 Point" manifesto and also administered some concoction meant to protect troops from bullets. He believed that his paraphernalia could transform bullets into water.
Wangamati says he had forewarned the Fera leadership about the suspicious ways of the "mole" but Mafokeng appeared to trust him. "This man came and said he wanted to join Fera. Jood and Odongo accepted him but I had my own reservations. So when he disappeared with the file, people were stunned and realised that the Kenya government had already infiltrated Fera."
The documents revealed how a Peruvian, Antonio Rodriques, was at the centre of arms shipment from South Africa aimed at equipping Fera. In the arrangement, the arms were to be channeled through the NRA.
Minutes of meetings between Odongo, Mafokeng and top NRA officials � among them Salim Saleh, Museveni�s brother who was a military chief � were also exposed. They showed that the NRA officers sought treatment in Mafokeng�s clinic. "What amazed me was the ability of Dr Jood to treat senior members of the NRA and NRM at his ramshackle clinic at Number 4 Burton Street," says one of the NSIS officials detailed to expose Fera.
One of Uganda�s military chiefs who allegedly helped establish Fera training camps in the eastern part of the country, Brig Chefe Ali, was instrumental in acquiring arms for the guerrilla group, the Intelligence reported. Ali was the man Ugandan President Museveni appointed to rout Joseph Kony�s Lords Resistance Army which has caused mayhem in northern Uganda.
According to Intelligence, Mafokeng, the South African herbalist, and Ali were the best of friends. Their frequent meetings revolved around acquisition of arms for the rebel groups in Kenya, Rwanda and Zaire.
Yet there are those in the Kenyan rebel group that had little trust in Mafokeng. The disquiet was over the South African�s interest in the struggle.
It is understood that Mafokeng�s interest was the wealth likely to accrue from collapse of what he saw as intransigent regimes in Kenya, Rwanda and Congo. In Kenya, President Moi had declared him a persona non grata and even seized some of his properties, according to Intelligence sources. | 
