Sudan blames UAE, Ethiopia for drone attack on Khartoum airport

Where Diplomacy Meets News

Sudan blames UAE, Ethiopia for drone attack on Khartoum airport

May 5, 2026

DUBAI,— Sudan’s military has blamed a drone strike on Monday targeting Khartoum International Airport on the United Arab Emirates and Ethiopia, Reuters reported, in the latest wave of attacks that has ended months of relative calm in the capital three years into civil war.

During a joint press conference in early Tuesday hours, Foreign Minister Mohieddin Salem and Sudanese Armed Forces SAF spokesman Brigadier General Asim Abdelwahab said they had conclusive evidence the drones were launched from Bahir Dar airport in Ethiopia.

They formally accused the UAE and Ethiopia of involvement in the Khartoum airport strike, according to a statement carried by the state news agency.

The officials said the government reserves the right to respond at a time and place of its choosing.

Salem, said the government has recalled its ambassador from Ethiopia for consultations after what he described as a drone attack by the United Arab Emirates and Ethiopia on Khartoum International Airport on Monday afternoon.

Sudan has repeatedly accused the UAE of backing the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group, a charge the Gulf state denies, and earlier this year also alleged Ethiopian involvement in the conflict.

Since Friday, strikes have hit military installations and civilian areas in Khartoum and nearby cities, residents told Reuters.

The attacks have disrupted a period in which people, government offices and international organizations had begun returning after the army regained control of the capital in March 2025.

Witnesses said Monday’s drones targeted Khartoum International Airport, a key site where early fighting between the army and RSF erupted in April 2023. The airport received its first international flight in three years last week.

Army spokesman Brigadier General Asim Awad Abdelwahab said authorities had evidence linking attacks beginning March 1 across several states to Ethiopia’s Bahir Dar airport, based on information from a drone downed in mid-March that he said tied operations to the airport and to the UAE.

He also said another drone launched from the same airport was linked to Monday’s strike. He warned that what he called aggression by Ethiopia and the UAE would not be met with silence.

Locals speaking anonymously said they believed the RSF was responsible for the latest attacks. The RSF has not commented.

Sudan’s Information Ministry said no one was wounded and there was no damage at the airport, which would resume operations after safety checks.

Drone warfare has become central in a conflict the United Nations calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with hundreds of thousands killed by violence, hunger and disease, and millions displaced.

Over the weekend, drones hit Omdurman, al-Obeid and Kenana. One attack Saturday killed five people on a civilian bus in Omdurman, Emergency Lawyers said.

Another Sunday strike killed relatives of Abu Agla Keikal, a tribal militia leader allied with the army who defected from the RSF earlier in the war.

The attacks follow the defection of RSF senior commander al-Nour al-Guba, who was welcomed by the army in Khartoum late last month, raising concerns over divisions within the army coalition.

The war began after the RSF and army fell out over integration plans and a transition to civilian rule.

The RSF seized Khartoum early in the war but was pushed out last year. It now controls Darfur and has opened a new front in Blue Nile state along the Ethiopian border.

In February, Reuters reported Ethiopia hosted a camp training RSF fighters and upgraded Asosa airport for drone operations.

(With files from Reuters, Agencies)