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

  • Counter Western Bias Against China by Remembering Peter Norman’s Solidarity
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    Counter Western Bias Against China by Remembering Peter Norman’s Solidarity
    18 Aug 2021
    International media engaged in Sinophobic rhetoric during the recent Olympic games in Tokyo.
  • BAR Book Forum: Sarah Jane Cervenak’s Book, “Black Gathering” 
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Sarah Jane Cervenak’s Book, “Black Gathering” 
    18 Aug 2021
    Creating alternative spaces for Black people to gather free from interruption or regulation.
  • BAR Book Forum: Da’Shaun Harrison’s Book, “Belly of the Beast”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Da’Shaun Harrison’s Book, “Belly of the Beast”
    18 Aug 2021
    The politics of fat shaming is tied to anti-Black racism.
  • The Peoples’ Pips: Leaving on that Midnight Train to GA…
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    The Peoples’ Pips: Leaving on that Midnight Train to GA…
    18 Aug 2021
    BAR's poet in residence composes a lyrical and musical tribute to Glen Ford. …He’s leaving  (Leaving) On that Midnight Train To Georgia 
  • Glen Ford's Journalism Fought for Black Liberation and Against Imperialism
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
    Glen Ford's Journalism Fought for Black Liberation and Against Imperialism
    04 Aug 2021
    Ford was among the few journalists who took a stance for Black liberation and against imperialism.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us