Drone attacks expand into Somalia, Yemen

Hot on the heels of news that the US is providing Uganda and Burundi with Raven surveillance drones to support their operations in Somalia, the Washington Post reported yesterday that the first drone strike in Somalia allegedly injured two al-Shabab militants last week.  As so often with drone reporting, no names were furnished.

Somalia is not the only place where the US appears to be expanding the drone wars. Since targeting Anwar al-Awlaki with a drone strike in Yemen last month, the US has reportedly carried out a further thirteen drone strikes just as reports are emerging that a new CIA covert programme is planned for the country.

The worldwide escalation of drone strikes is serious cause for concern. Civilian deaths caused by CIA covert drone strikes in Pakistan have infuriated the local population and the government.

Military officials argue that this is some of the most precise weaponry ever used.  However, May’s drone strike in Yemen targeting al-Awlaki instead wiped out an envoy of President Saleh.

Drones are a revolution in warfare, says P.W. Singer, author of ‘Wired for War,’ that will allow soldiers to commute to armed conflict: “twenty minutes after being at war, you’re talking to your kids about their homework at the dinner table.”

The question is, if fighting a war is now close to playing a video game, how can we be sure the lives of civilians are being taken seriously? And will war become more likely if the risk to the military personnel involved is removed?

We should also remember that it’s not just the United States that has drones. Britain, Italy and Israel (which has carried out strikes on the Gaza strip) use military, unmanned aircraft, as does China. Singer says that 44 countries are now experimenting with military robots (land as well as air). You can imagine that once, for example, Uganda and Burundi get a taste of the Ravens, it won’t be long before they are thinking about armed Predators.

It’s worrying that drones are spreading to countries like Uganda that have dubious human rights records and a heavy-handed approach to counter-terrorism. Since the World Cup bombings last year, Uganda has been undertaking massive sweeps of ‘suspects’ and targeting human rights advocates such as Muslim Human Rights Forum president al-Amin Kimathi who have questioned the mass detentions and renditions.

The use and proliferation of drones is happening at such a pace that an ethical and legal debate has hardly taken place. Earlier this year the MoD released a report on drones in which it said, “It is essential that before unmanned systems become ubiquitous (if it is not already too late) … we ensure that, by removing some of the horror, or at least keeping it at a distance, we do not risk losing our controlling humanity and make war more likely."

The apparent initiation of two new drones programmes in as many months should be forcing the issue. We need to think hard and fast about how this supposedly safer technology may be making the world a more dangerous place.