Following Amanda Sperber’s own findings that U.S. air strikes were contributing to civilian displacement, along with informal reports from Somali sources and NGOs who said strikes were spurring al-Shabab recruitment, Sperber travelled to Somalia for In These Times Magazine to investigate the strikes’ civilian impacts.

She found that U.S. air strikes in Somalia have damaged farms, homes and livestock. Strikes have also created a climate of uncertainty and paranoia within the communities they hit, as civilians start suspecting each other of being targeted members of al-Shabab. Al-Shabab has reacted to the strikes by harassing villagers, accusing locals of being U.S. spies or forcing them to choose between fighting for al-Shabab and fleeing home.

• The Leonard C Goodman Institute for Investigative Reporting supported this on-the-ground journalism.

Testimony from villagers following a U.S. military admitted ground raid in Somalia provides rare insight into the operational methods deployed.

• The Leonard C Goodman Institute for Investigative Reporting supported this on-the-ground journalism.

U.S. military officials say the military investigates allegations of civilian casualties in airstrikes in Somalia. But an investigation into a single airstrike for Foreign Policy found that family members of the deceased were not contacted, even when their information was shared with the military. Additionally. U.S. Africa Commands process for assessing civilian casualties requires neither on-the-ground interviews nor conversations with eyewitnesses, according to a document reviewed by Foreign Policy. 

After the publication of the Foreign Policy article, Amnesty International launched an independent investigation into the airstrike, concluding in a report “US military shows appalling regard for civilians killed in Somalia airstike.” The findings the the U.S. military does not comprehensively investigate civilian casualty allegations were mentioned in an open congressional letter, initiated by Ilhan Omar and co-signed by seven other Democratic representatives, all of them chairs of relevant committees and subcommittees, including Adam Schiff, the Chair of the House Intelligence Committee, Eliot Engel, the Chair of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Adam Smith, the Chair of the House Armed Services Committee.

• Kurt Schork Memorial Award, 2019

An investigation for The Nation Magazine identified U.S, airstrikes strikes that went unreported until they were raised with the military, but also others that U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) could not confirm—which suggests that another U.S. agency may also be launching air attacks in the region. The investigation also tracked down evidence that AFRICOM’s claim of zero civilian casualties is almost certainly incorrect. And it found that the United States lacks a clear definition of “terrorist,” with neither AFRICOM, the Pentagon, nor the National Security Council willing to clarify the policies that underpin these strikes.

Of the investigation, Brian Castner, the Weapons Expert at Amnesty International said, “Amanda Sperber has put together a package of reporting that is nothing short of amazing. She is working on the toughest stage: Somalia is a dangerous and expensive police-state full of unreliable sources and opaque clan dynamics. In spite of these obstacles, she has done valuable unique reporting—by herself, as a freelancer, without a primary media platform backing her—that has forced the U.S. military to investigate its own air strikes, and the harm they have caused civilians caught in the middle of the fighting.”

• Type Investigations partnered with The Nation on this reporting.

• Kurt Schork Memorial Award, 2019

• Shortlisted for Frontline Club Award, Print Category, 2019

The United Nations and foreign powers claim they are dedicated to building up the Somali National Army. Instead, they have become complicit in its dysfunction.

• Kurt Schork Memorial Award, 2019