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


  • What Are Identity Politics? A Vision of Solidarity Rooted in Black Feminism
    Marian Jones 
    What Are Identity Politics? A Vision of Solidarity Rooted in Black Feminism
    10 Mar 2021
    The CRC never defined identity politics as exclusionary or intended to mean that only those who experience a certain oppression can fight to end it.
  • The Rise of the Private Police
    Amelia Pollard
    The Rise of the Private Police
    10 Mar 2021
    South Africa is leading the way into the horror of policing for profit. 
  • The Attack That Never Happened: Cuba and the US Fantasy of Sonic Attacks
    Rosa Miriam Elizalde
    The Attack That Never Happened: Cuba and the US Fantasy of Sonic Attacks
    10 Mar 2021
    Renowned Cuban journalist Rosa Miriam Elizalde discusses the long-lasting impact of the US allegation that “sonic attacks” were carried out against US embassy staff.
  • The Black Struggle and the Future of Humankind
    Philippe Gendrault
    The Black Struggle and the Future of Humankind
    10 Mar 2021
    Exploited within the belly of the beast, the struggle for Black emancipation cannot avoid its global ramifications when it comes to ending the hegemon’s domestic violence and global destructiveness
  •  Black Agenda Radio for Week of March 8, 2021
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Black Agenda Radio for Week of March 8, 2021
    09 Mar 2021
    Free All Political, Elderly and Covid-Infected Prisoners, Say Mumia Supporters
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us