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


  • EXPOSED: Before Ukraine Blew Up Kerch Bridge, British Spies Plotted It
    Kit Klarenberg
    EXPOSED: Before Ukraine Blew Up Kerch Bridge, British Spies Plotted It
    12 Oct 2022
    The secret British intelligence plot to blow up Crimea’s Kerch Bridge is revealed in internal documents and correspondence obtained exclusively by The Grayzone.
  • Pentagon Doesn’t Know If It Trained Burkina Faso Coup Leader
    Nick Turse
    Pentagon Doesn’t Know If It Trained Burkina Faso Coup Leader
    12 Oct 2022
    Captain Ibrahim Traore deposed the last man who overthrew the previous government — Lt. Col. Sandaogo Damiba — who did extensive training with the U.S. Africa Command, AFRICOM.
  • Imperialist Militarism and the African Crisis
    Abayomi Azikiwe
    Imperialist Militarism and the African Crisis
    12 Oct 2022
    The U.S. Africa Command, AFRICOM, and all iterations of foreign interference bring instability to the African continent. 
  • Sanctioning the Horn of Africa
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor , John Philpot
    Sanctioning the Horn of Africa
    07 Oct 2022
    Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia have suffered from a variety of U.S. interventions over many years. Proxy wars and unilateral coercive measures, sanctions, are the tools used to prevent these nations…
  • Black Agenda Radio October 7, 2022
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio October 7, 2022
    07 Oct 2022
    A national survey reveals that the criminal justice system neglects the needs of crime survivors, an October 19, 2022 hearing determines whether Mumia Abu Jamal may be able to appeal his conviction,…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us