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


  • Freedom Rider: COVID-19 Covers Up War and Financial Collapse
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
    Freedom Rider: COVID-19 Covers Up War and Financial Collapse
    18 Mar 2020
    COVID-19 is not just a health emergency. It has exposed the causes of inequality and suffering in this country.
  • Sanders Gets Swallowed by the DNC Machine: It’s Time to #DemExit
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    Sanders Gets Swallowed by the DNC Machine: It’s Time to #DemExit
    18 Mar 2020
    Only the demise of the Democratic Party can free up the potential of the people to resolve the many problems created by capitalism and imperialism.
  • “Virus or No Virus, We Can't Lose Our Voice”: Cheri Honkala on Frontline Communities
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    “Virus or No Virus, We Can't Lose Our Voice”: Cheri Honkala on Frontline Communities
    18 Mar 2020
    Coronavirus is just an extension of the war that we've been forced to fight under capitalism.
  • Ruling-class Remedies
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Ruling-class Remedies
    18 Mar 2020
    If you’re feeling exceptionally feverish  or feverishly exceptional pull a tight-fitting, cherry red MAGAT cap over your forehead and eyes. Tight
  • Debtors of the World, Unite!
    Hannah Appel
    Debtors of the World, Unite!
    18 Mar 2020
    Debt’s ubiquity is a burden, but also an opportunity. “The point of debtors’ unions it is to build collective power—people power.”
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us