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


  • Food, Land and Power: Revisiting Black Cooperative Movements
    Julian Agyeman and Kofi Boone
    Food, Land and Power: Revisiting Black Cooperative Movements
    24 Jun 2020
    Land loss has plagued black America since emancipation – is it time to look again at ‘black commons’ and collective ownership?
  • Seize the Time or Face Fascism
    Riva Enteen
    Seize the Time or Face Fascism
    24 Jun 2020
    Either we seize the time and bring power to the people, or we must be prepared to face overt fascism.
  • Black Agenda Radio for Week of June 22, 2020
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Black Agenda Radio for Week of June 22, 2020
    22 Jun 2020
    A New Generation, Same Struggle
  • Will Blacks Oppose or Defend US Empire?
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Will Blacks Oppose or Defend US Empire?
    22 Jun 2020
    Defense of Haitian independence was the first foreign policy focus of African Americans, said Brandon Byrd, professor of history at Vanderbilt University and author of “The Bl
  • Vanessa Beck
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Elite Deploy Spy Hi-Tech Against the People
    22 Jun 2020
    Recent reports show the US military spied on George Floyd protests in 15 cities with planes, helicopters and drones.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us