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


  • BAR Book Forum: Joshua Bennett’s “Being Property Once Myself”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Joshua Bennett’s “Being Property Once Myself”
    22 Apr 2020
    Black thought is environmental thought and Black Studies is, at its core, an ecological critique. 
  • Wrong On Weed – Blacks And Marijuana Myths
    Linn Washington
    Wrong On Weed – Blacks And Marijuana Myths
    22 Apr 2020
    Black state lawmakers helped scuttle efforts to legalize marijuana in the Garden State and Black preachers have been huge impediments to legalization.
  • Truth and Propaganda About Coronavirus
    Vijay Prashad, Weiyan Zhu, and Du Xiaojun
    Truth and Propaganda About Coronavirus
    22 Apr 2020
    It is unclear if China could have done anything different as it faced an unknown virus.
  • Wall Street Fat Cats Back Challenger to AOC in Primary
    Lee Fang
    Wall Street Fat Cats Back Challenger to AOC in Primary
    22 Apr 2020
    Finance capitalists collected nearly $1 million in the first three months of the year to oust Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
  • Resisting Covid-19 in Haiti
    Pierre Labossiere
    Resisting Covid-19 in Haiti
    22 Apr 2020
    There are only around 124 intensive care unit beds and less than 100 ventilators for a population of about 11 million.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us