Drone
RQ-4 Global Hawk drone
RQ-4 Global Hawk drone (Credit: U.S. Navy)

These private companies support U.S. drone strikes in Somalia that have killed many civilians. The victims’ families can’t bring legal action against those responsible because the firms are fronts controlled by persons unknown.

The report come from the Organized Crime and Corruption Report, OCCRP.

The companies operate out of an island off the coast of Kenya.

Flight data indicates a contractor-owned plane that was seen regularly in Manda Bay scouted sites for several drone strikes against Islamist militant group Al-Shabab that may have killed civilians in Somalia. Data collected by an antenna installed by OCCRP confirmed multiple privately owned surveillance planes operated from the base, often hidden behind a chain of limited liability companies that do not list their true owners.

Source: Private U.S. Contractors Part of the ‘Kill Chain’ in East Africa Anti-Terrorist Operations – OCCRP