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

Israel and Somaliland
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
U.S. and Israeli Interference in Somalia, Eritrea, and Ethiopia
25 September 2026
Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African Newswire, discusses Israeli recognitio
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


  •  BLM National Leadership Focused on Money and Careers
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    BLM National Leadership Focused on Money and Careers
    16 Nov 2020
    Breya Johnson, co-chair of Black Youth Project 100 (BYP100) in Washington, DC, said her organization enjoys a “working relationship” with the local Black Lives Matter chapter, but
  • Black Voters: “Contrarian” Men and “Communal” Women
    Glen Ford, BAR Executive Editor
    Black Voters: “Contrarian” Men and “Communal” Women
    12 Nov 2020
    A significant portion of Black males are “contrarians” that take positions at odds with the general Black political consensus – while Black women tend to take the communal approach.
  • Freedom Rider: The Real Resistance Begins
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
    Freedom Rider: The Real Resistance Begins
    11 Nov 2020
    “Kamala Auntie” and Joe from Scranton will do as little as possible so that “nothing will fundamentally change” that would halt endless wars and the Race to the Bottom. 
  • Joe Biden’s Victory is Still a Loss for Humanity
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    Joe Biden’s Victory is Still a Loss for Humanity
    11 Nov 2020
    The Biden-Harris administration is good news for corporations, cops, war profiteers and banks too big to fail, but offers nothing to save the people and planet from multiple rises.
  • Susan Rice, a Butcher of Africans, May Become Secretary of State
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Susan Rice, Scourge of Africa, May Become Secretary of State
    11 Nov 2020
    Rice has been intimately involved in covering up the deaths of moe than six million Congolese, and has cultivated close relations with every US-backed tyrant on the continent.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us