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


  • Cost of the Ukraine War Felt in Africa, Global South
    Ramzy Baroud
    Cost of the Ukraine War Felt in Africa, Global South
    11 May 2022
    US/NATO sanctions against Russia have resulted in food shortages and price increases throughout the Global South. 
  • Cape Verde: Ulisses Correia Admits Kidnapping of Alex Saab was an Exchange for Cooperative Security
    Orinoco Tribune
    Cape Verde: Ulisses Correia Admits Kidnapping of Alex Saab was an Exchange for Cooperative Security
    11 May 2022
    The Trump and Biden administrations violated the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations by arresting and kidnapping Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab. Cape Verde was under U.S. pressure to participate…
  • Money for Weapons as the World Burns
    Vijay Prashad
    Money for Weapons as the World Burns
    11 May 2022
    $100 billion was pledged to assist the Global South amidst the climate change crisis but world wide defense spending now exceeds $2 trillion. War making trumps saving humanity from…
  • No to a New Monroe Doctrine in the Pacific
    Carlos Martinez
    No to a New Monroe Doctrine in the Pacific
    11 May 2022
    The U.S. and Australia have fiercely opposed the new security agreement between China and the Solomon Islands. They are attempting to construct a Monroe Doctrine in the Pacific, imposing US hegemony…
  • Summit of the Americas in ‘Danger’ as Caribbean States Threaten Boycott Over Cuba and Venezuela Exclusion
    José Luis Granados Ceja
    Summit of the Americas in ‘Danger’ as Caribbean States Threaten Boycott Over Cuba and Venezuela Exclusion
    11 May 2022
    The U.S. has not invited Cuba, Venezuela, or Nicaragua to attend the upcoming Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, California. Other nations threaten to boycott if every…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us