Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

The Known Unknowns of the Secret US Drone War in Somalia
This Is Hell
06 Mar 2019
🖨️ Print Article

US troops landed in oil-rich Somalia in 1992 and never really left. Over the years some have been replaced with drones and mercenary contractors, but Americans still prop up their version of a Somali government, headed by a US citizen whose writ doesn't go much beyond the capital. Obama bombed Somalia regularly, but under Trump the number of drone strikes have tripled, killing unknown numbers of Africans and terrorizing large swaths of the countryside. The US government doesn't even reveal which agency is conducting many of the bombing strikes, and next to no reporting on the long war in Somalia appears in the US press or broadcast media.

ThisIsHell host Chuck Mertz interviews Mogadishu based journalist Amanda Sperber. Amanda wrote the article "Inside the Secretive US Air Campaign In Somalia" for The Nation: www.thenation.com/article/somalia-…et-air-campaign/

This interview was originally broadcasted by our friends at ThisISHell.com on Saturday February 16, 2019.

Somalia
drone warfare

Related Podcasts

Israel and Somaliland
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
U.S. and Israeli Interference in Somalia, Eritrea, and Ethiopia
25 September 2026
Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African Newswire, discusses Israeli recognitio
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar and Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Israel's Recognition of Somaliland Destabilizes the Horn of Africa
09 January 2026
Israel is the first and only nation to recognize the Somaliland region of Somalia as an independent state.
Map of the Horn of Africa
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Trump Administration Continues U.S. Destabilization of Somalia
21 February 2025
Abayomi Azikiwe, is the editor of Pan-African Newswire.

More Stories


  • Murder of Daunte Wright Ruined Derek Chauvin Show Trial
    ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    Murder of Daunte Wright Ruined Derek Chauvin Show Trial
    15 Apr 2021
    The Black-murder-by-cop next door to Minneapolis shows the world the dehumanization that is built into the white supremacist DNA of settler-colonialism will continue to produce crimes against our c
  • Spirit of Self-Emancipation Continues to Rise at the St. Louis City Justice Center
    Adofo Minka
    Spirit of Self-Emancipation Continues to Rise at the St. Louis City Justice Center
    15 Apr 2021
    Like Christ on the third day, detainees in St. Louis jails have risen to challenge state oppression.
  • Letters from Our Readers
    Jahan Choudhry, BAR Comments Editor
    Letters from Our Readers
    15 Apr 2021
    This week the war in Afghanistan was on your minds.
  • BAR Book Forum: Walter Johnson’s “The Broken Heart of America”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Walter Johnson’s “The Broken Heart of America”
    15 Apr 2021
    The Black future is already unfolding under your feet, and the narrow possibility that you might grab ahold of that leading edge of the asphalt and turn it in a different direction.
  •  BAR Book Forum: Tracey L. Walters’ “Not Your Mother’s Mammy”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Tracey L. Walters’ “Not Your Mother’s Mammy”
    15 Apr 2021
    The assumption is these women are uneducated or without skills beyond cleaning or caring for children and adults. 
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us