Sudan has accused neighbouring Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) of orchestrating drone strikes on its main airport, describing the assault as “direct aggression”.
The international airport, located in the capital, was hit on Monday, along with military installations in the Greater Khartoum area.
Recent drone strikes have shattered a period of relative calm in Khartoum, which came after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) was pushed out by the Sudanese military last year.
Ethiopia has said accusations that it was involved in the airport attack are “baseless”. The UAE has not yet commented, but has previously denied involvement in the Sudanese conflict.
Sudan has recalled its ambassador to Ethiopia for “consultations” over the attack, Foreign Minister Mohieddin Salem said.
No-one was wounded in the attack, Sudan’s information minister told the Reuters news agency.
Sudan’s army said it had “conclusive evidence” that the drones were launched from Bahir Dar airport in Ethiopia, the state-owned Sudan News Agency (Suna) reported.
Sudanese military officials first accused the RSF of air attacks launched from inside Ethiopian territory in March.
They said they had tracked a drone, identified as Emirati property, entering Sudanese airspace from Ethiopia and eventually shot it down.
A Sudanese army spokesman alleged that they have now connected another drone, launched from the same airport, to Monday’s attack.
The UAE has in the past forcefully rejected claims that it provides military support to the RSF.
The latest attacks came a week after the first direct international commercial flight in three years landed at the airport.
The authorities were forced to announce a 72-hour suspension of operations at the airport following the attacks.
The airport has been a major battleground in the war between the regular army and the RSF, which began in 2023.
In February, Reuters reported that Ethiopia was hosting a camp to train RSF fighters and had upgraded the nearby Asosa airport for drone operations.
It said the move was backed by Ethiopia’s close ally, the United Arab Emirates.
Ethiopia denied the reports, as did the UAE.
On Monday, witnesses confirmed to the AFP news agency that they heard blasts and saw smoke rising from an area near the airport.
The attack is reported to have also caused minor damage to an administrative building.
The information ministry said the airport would return to operations after routine safety procedures.
Sudan’s foreign minister alleged that the drones had taken off from Ethiopia, despite Ethiopia being a “brotherly state” to Sudan. He said the UAE and Ethiopia had chosen the “wrong path” and would regret it.
Ethiopia’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday that Sudan and Ethiopia “share a historic and enduring bond of friendship” and had “refrained from publicising the grave violations of Ethiopia’s territorial integrity and national security committed by some belligerents in the Sudanese civil war”.
The ministry called for dialogue between the warring parties in Sudan.
Since the war in Sudan started, more than 150,000 people have died. Twelve million have fled their homes in what the UN has called the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.
The three-year civil war has also led to a famine and claims of a genocide in the western Darfur region.
BBC
