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

  • INTERVIEW: Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer by Jack O’Dell, 1965
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    INTERVIEW: Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer by Jack O’Dell, 1965
    22 Jun 2022
    A 1965 Freedomways interview with Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer provides an unvarnished and unsentimental portrait of Mississippi – and of the tasks of the Freedom Movement.
  • Eritrean Martyrs' Day
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Eritrean Martyrs' Day
    22 Jun 2022
    Eritrea emerged as an independent nation after decades of struggle. It celebrates Martyrs' Day in honor of those who paid the ultimate price.
  • BAR Book Forum: ShantĂ© Paradigm Smalls’s “Hip Hop Heresies”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Shanté Paradigm Smalls’s “Hip Hop Heresies”
    22 Jun 2022
    This week’s featured author is Shanté Paradigm Smalls. Smalls is Associate Professor of Black Studies in the Department of English and Faculty in Critical Race & Ethnic Studies at St. John’s…
  • Celebrations in Colombia’s Streets: Gustavo Petro to Be First Left-Wing President and Francia Márquez the First Afro-Descendant Woman VP
    Julie Varughese
    Celebrations in Colombia’s Streets: Gustavo Petro to Be First Left-Wing President and Francia Márquez the First Afro-Descendant Woman VP
    22 Jun 2022
    The Historical Pact candidates Gustavo Petro and Francia Marquez were elected President and Vice President of Colombia. Their victory is the first for leftists in that country but part of a trend in…
  • Poor Peoples’ March
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Poor Peoples’ March
    22 Jun 2022
                                                         
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us