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


  •  US is Enemy of Haitian Democracy
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    US is Enemy of Haitian Democracy
    09 Mar 2021
    “The US is responsible for the complete destabilization of Haitian democracy and the complete loss of Haitian sovereignty,” said Dr Jemima Pierre, an anthropologist in the African
  • When Movements Embrace Police Abolition, the Rich Resurrect “Reform”
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    When Movements Embrace Police Abolition, the Rich Resurrect “Reform”
    09 Mar 2021
    “As soon as movements emerge that identify the normal operations of the police” and other capitalist institutions as the problem, the regime directs the language of the debate towards reform, said
  • Free All Political, Elderly and Covid-Infected Prisoners, Say Mumia Supporters
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Free All Political, Elderly and Covid-Infected Prisoners, Say Mumia Supporters
    09 Mar 2021
    Dr Johanna Fernandez and other advocates for Mumia Abu Jamal asked the city of Philadelphia to “stand with common humanity who face illness” and “bring our elderly population home,
  • About the Ray Wood 'Confession' 
    Zayid Muhammad
    About the Ray Wood 'Confession' 
    03 Mar 2021
    The Malcolm X Commemoration Committee speaks on Ray Wood’s deathbed 'non-confession' to crimes committed before and during the great leader’s assassination.
  • The Biden Administration Spent Black History Month Deporting Black Immigrants: Why Aren’t People in the Streets? 
    Tina Vásquez
    The Biden Administration Spent Black History Month Deporting Black Immigrants: Why Aren’t People in the Streets? 
    03 Mar 2021
    Black immigrants are among the most vulnerable and we always have a target on our back and it has been no different under Biden.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us