Sudan accuses Ethiopia and UAE over Khartoum airport drone attack as both deny role
Sudan has accused Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates of orchestrating drone strikes on Khartoum International Airport, according to the BBC report in the packet. Ethiopia called the accusation baseless, while the UAE rejected what it described as unfounded accusations and deliberate propaganda. The clash is diplomatic as much as military, because the airport attack has become another flashpoint in Sudan's war and another test of regional loyalties.
The source says the airport and military installations in the Greater Khartoum area were hit on Monday. Witnesses told AFP they heard blasts and saw smoke rising near the airport, and Sudan's information minister said no one was wounded. The authorities then suspended airport operations for 72 hours and later said the airport would return to service after routine safety procedures. That gives the attack immediate operational consequences even before the larger political argument is resolved.
Sudan's side is making a specific case. The army said it had conclusive evidence that drones were launched from Bahir Dar airport in Ethiopia, and state media reported that military officials linked another drone to the same site. Those claims are presented in the BBC report as Sudanese allegations, not as independently verified fact. Ethiopia, for its part, said Sudan and Ethiopia share a historical bond and called for dialogue between the fighting sides, while also complaining about violations of its own sovereignty.
The airport itself has become a symbol of the broader conflict. The report says the first direct international commercial flight in three years had landed there just a week earlier, which made the new attack particularly disruptive. The airport has also been a major battlefield in the war between Sudan's regular army and the Rapid Support Forces, and the source links that war to a massive humanitarian collapse, with more than 150,000 dead and 12 million displaced according to UN estimates cited by BBC.
The wider background matters because the accusations are not isolated. The BBC report recalls earlier Sudanese claims that the RSF had used Ethiopian territory for attacks and says Reuters reported in February that Ethiopia was hosting a camp to train RSF fighters and had upgraded Asosa airport for drone operations, with backing from the UAE. Those details raise the political temperature, but the article remains careful to present them as parts of an already combustible information war.
The event date for this story is 2026-05-06. What the packet verifies is that Sudan has accused Ethiopia and the UAE of involvement in the Khartoum airport attack, both countries deny it, and the airport's closure and reopening have become part of a wider struggle over who is driving Sudan's war.
The airport strike is especially dangerous because it widens a war that has already created one of the world’s largest displacement crises. If regional actors begin to trade accusations over drone launches and support networks, the conflict becomes harder to localize and easier to prolong. The BBC report suggests that Sudan’s airport is now both a transport hub and a diplomatic battleground.
