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


  • BAR Book Forum: Robtel Neajai Pailey’s “Development, (Dual) Citizenship and Its Discontents in Africa”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Robtel Neajai Pailey’s “Development, (Dual) Citizenship and Its Discontents in Africa”
    29 Jun 2022
    This week’s featured author is Robtel Neajai Pailey. Pailey is Assistant Professor in International Social and Public Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Her book is…
  • Punch Left Move Right: Stacey Abrams and the Democratic Party Shuffle
    Erica Caines
    Punch Left Move Right: Stacey Abrams and the Democratic Party Shuffle
    29 Jun 2022
    Stacey Abrams's campaign to become Governor of Georgia features the popular democratic strategy of pretending to be progressive while advocating for right wing issues, such as allocating more money…
  • Statement Issued by New World Mathaba: Brutal Attacks on Africans in Morocco Highlights Crisis in Africa
    New World Mathaba
    Statement Issued by New World Mathaba: Brutal Attacks on Africans in Morocco Highlights Crisis in Africa
    29 Jun 2022
    New World Mathaba issued this statement in protest of the deaths of African migrants at the hands of Moroccan security forces while attempting to enter the Spanish enclave of Melilla.
  • Colombia Votes for Vivir Sabroso: Chronicle of an Historic Election
    AgustĂ­n LaĂł-Montes
    Colombia Votes for Vivir Sabroso: Chronicle of an Historic Election
    29 Jun 2022
    The election victory of Colombia's Historical Pact was the culmination of years of struggle in that country.
  • The Terrible Origins of July 4th
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    The Terrible Origins of July 4th
    29 Jun 2022
    The causes of the July 4, 1776 Declaration of Independence are rarely taught in this country. The American colonists chafed under British rules limiting their settlements and feared they…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us