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The Sudanese government has accused Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates of launching drone attacks on Khartoum International Airport and other military targets in the country.

Some shit you should know before you dig in: If you’re unaware, Sudan has been dealing with a civil war since 2023 after a power struggle between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. The conflict has triggered what the UN calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with more than 150,000 people killed, around 14 million displaced, famine spreading, and documented evidence of genocide in the western Darfur region. Since the conflict broke out, Sudan has accused the UAE of arming and bankrolling the RSF, with UN experts and rights groups making similar accusations. On top of that, Reuters reported earlier this year that the UAE was bankrolling a covert training facility for RSF fighters inside Ethiopia. Despite the claims, both the UAE and Ethiopia deny any involvement in the conflict.

What’s going on now: Sudanese Foreign Minister Mohieddin Salem accused Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates of being directly behind a series of drone attacks on Sudan during a Tuesday joint press conference with Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) spokesperson Brigadier General Asim Awad Abdelwahab. Abdelwahab said the SAF has “conclusive evidence” that drones used in Monday’s attack on Khartoum International Airport were launched from Bahir Dar Airport in northern Ethiopia and supplied by the UAE.

The SAF said it has tracked four drone attacks since March 1 (targeting White Nile, Blue Nile, North Kordofan, and South Kordofan states) back to the same Ethiopian airport. On March 17, the SAF said one of the drones was shot down near El-Obeid and identified as “owned by the United Arab Emirates and was used from within Ethiopian territory.” A separate drone launched from Bahir Dar on May 1 was repelled by air defenses around Khartoum. The Sudanese government has now recalled its ambassador to Ethiopia for “consultations” following the attacks.

Sudan’s information ministry said nobody was hurt in the strike and the only physical damage hit an administrative building. The airport is expected to reopen after a 72-hour shutdown and standard safety inspections. The strike came just days after the first commercial flight from abroad in three years touched down at the airport, one of the first real signs the capital was inching back toward normal after the SAF retook Khartoum from the RSF in March 2025.

Both Ethiopia and the UAE pushed back hard. Ethiopia’s Foreign Ministry called the accusations “baseless” and accused Sudan of arming and funding the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), a Tigrayan rebel group, to launch incursions across Ethiopia’s western frontier. The ministry said Ethiopia and Sudan “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.”

A senior TPLF official, Amanuel Assefa, denied the Ethiopian government’s claim and told AFP, “we have no connections with the Sudanese authorities,” accusing the federal government of blaming everyone “but themselves for their failures.”

A UAE official told Al-Monitor the accusation was a “fabrication” and “deliberate propaganda” that was “intended to prolong the war and obstruct a genuine peace process.”