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


  • Black Alliance For Peace
    Don’t Believe The Simulated Coup d’État in Guinea-Bissau
    03 Dec 2025
    An illegitimate seizure of power is unfolding in Guinea-Bissau, but the "coup" involves the outgoing president, his loyalists, and their efforts to undo the will of the people in that nation.
  • Organization for the Victory of the People , Gerald A. Perreira
    Hands Off Maduro/Hands Off Venezuela
    03 Dec 2025
    CARICOM and Countries Across the Caribbean, Central and South America Must Defy Trump’s Ludicrous and Illegal No-Fly Zone.
  • Keston Perry
    Why a Caribbean Zone of Radical Peace is Vital and Must Be Realized Through Working-Class Unity
    03 Dec 2025
    We must struggle for a radical peace in the Caribbean. Maurice Bishop offers us a guide.
  • Brahim Rouabah , Corinna Mullin
    On the Coloniality of Solidarity: Iran, Imperialist Aggression, and the Western Left’s Blind Spot
    03 Dec 2025
    The 'pure' leftism of the Western academy denounces Iran's state while ignoring its real crime: defying imperialism. This selective solidarity has become a weapon of empire, disarming the very…
  • John Perry , Roger D. Harris
    It’s Not Only About Venezuela: Trump Intends a Wider Domino Effect
    03 Dec 2025
    One-fifth of the U.S. Navy now sits in the Caribbean, positioned to initiate regime change in Venezuela and beyond. This is a campaign to cleanse the hemisphere. First Venezuela, then any government…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us