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


  • Joint Statement From Elected Prosecutors on COVID-19 and Addressing the Rights and Needs of Those in Custody
    Fair & Just Prosecution
    Joint Statement From Elected Prosecutors on COVID-19 and Addressing the Rights and Needs of Those in Custody
    25 Mar 2020
    Overcrowded jail, prison and immigration detention facilities force people together in close quarters without access to proper hygiene or medical care.
  • Humanity Not Cages: Demanding a Just and Humane Response to Outbreak
    Human Outbreak Response
    Humanity Not Cages: Demanding a Just and Humane Response to Outbreak
    25 Mar 2020
    With 2.3 million people in the United States in prison or jail on any given day, an outbreak in these facilities poses a threat to the entire country. 
  • Economists Demand Trump Immediately Lift Iran, Cuba, and Venezuela Sanctions That Are 'Feeding the Coronavirus Epidemic'
    Jake Johnson
    Economists Demand Trump Immediately Lift Iran, Cuba, and Venezuela Sanctions That Are 'Feeding the Coronavirus Epidemic'
    25 Mar 2020
    This policy is unconscionable and flagrantly against international law. It is imperative that the U.S. lift these immoral and illegal sanctions.
  • Sanders’ “Miscreants” 
    Adam Szetela
    Sanders’ “Miscreants” 
    25 Mar 2020
    From welfare queens and super predators to “Bernie brothers,” the democratic establishment is never short of boogeymen.
  • The Dangers of Binary Politics for the African American Community
    Wilmer J. Leon III
    The Dangers of Binary Politics for the African American Community
    25 Mar 2020
    We have traded our interests in for “electability” and “anybody but Trump.”
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us