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

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


  • The Super Bowl and the Trouble with First Black Symbolism
    Gus Griffin
    The Super Bowl and the Trouble with First Black Symbolism
    08 Feb 2023
    Whether Super Bowl quarterbacks, or presidents, or police chiefs, unquestioned admiration of the "first Black" should come to an end.
  • Capitalism in Black and Blue
    John Parker
    Capitalism in Black and Blue
    08 Feb 2023
    Policing is inextricably linked to racism and to capitalism.
  • United States’s Pursuit of Imperial Military Base in Northern Somalia Fuels Brutal War
    Jamal Abdulahi
    United States’s Pursuit of Imperial Military Base in Northern Somalia Fuels Brutal War
    08 Feb 2023
    The history of European colonialism and the endless U.S. desire for a military presence strengthen a Somalia secessionist movement and warfare that most people in that country do not…
  • BAP Haiti/Americas Team Opposes Apparent CELAC Support for Foreign Military Intervention Into Haiti
    Black Alliance for Peace Haiti/Americas Team
    BAP Haiti/Americas Team Opposes Apparent CELAC Support for Foreign Military Intervention Into Haiti
    08 Feb 2023
    Black Alliance for Peace's Haiti/Americas Team Opposes the Apparent Support of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) for Foreign Military Intervention Into Haiti.
  • Below Zero in Haiti, 20 Years Into The Ottawa Initiative
    Jean St. Vil
    Below Zero in Haiti, 20 Years Into The Ottawa Initiative
    08 Feb 2023
    Canada is a US partner in crime in Haiti as it is in the rest of the world. Haiti cannot be a sovereign nation as long as Canada, the US and other CORE Group nations interfere in its affairs.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us