The U.S. Government claims it’s keeping Americans safe by using drones, air strikes and Special Forces operations to kill people it calls “militants” or “terrorists” around the world. But in reality, it has killed thousands of civilians, usually without explanation or any effort to compensate survivors or their families for their devastating losses.
In Somalia, Amnesty International has investigated U.S. air strikes since 2017 and found 21 civilians were killed and 11 injured.
Due to pressure by Amnesty International and others, the U.S. military has since April 2019 admitted to killing five Somali civilians and injuring 11 others in five separate air strikes. However, none of those families or victims have received justice or any form of reparation by the U.S. or by the Somali government. Congress has authorized funds specifically to assist civilian victims of U.S. military operations, but year after year, the Department of Defense does not spend them. The devastated survivors and their families have a right to truth, justice and reparations.
Amnesty International is now urging the U.S. military to help two particular families who’ve suffered tremendously from U.S. drone strikes.
On Feb. 2, 2020, in Jilib, Middle Juba, Somalia, a U.S. air strike killed Nurto Kusow Omar Abukar, an 18-year-old woman. At the same time, the U.S. strike injured her two younger sisters, 12-year-old Fatuma Kusow Omar Abukar and 7-year-old Adey Kusow Omar Abukar, and her grandmother, 70-year-old Khadija Mohamed Gedow.
Earlier, on April 1, 2018, in El-Bur, Galgadud, Somalia, a U.S. drone strike hit and killed 22-year-old Lul Dahir Mohamed and her daughter, 3-year-old Maryam Shilow Muse.
The U.S. military has acknowledged that all of these victims were civilians. Yet despite the efforts of each family to make contact with the US military command in Somalia — including going through the official complaints process made available by the Department of Defense — the military has not contacted their families, or offered any reparations or amends.