Ethiopian Airlines, the largest carrier in Africa, has said that a recent weapons shipment to Sudan was legal.
The carrier on Monday said it was responding to “false” news reports made by Sudanese state-owned SUNA news agency.
According to SUNA, Sudanese authorities seized a shipment of weapons at Khartoum airport after arriving from neighbouring Ethiopia on Saturday.
The media outlet reported that the Ethiopian Airlines passenger flight came from Addis Ababa.
The shipment of 72 boxes containing weapons and night-vision binoculars was immediately confiscated by Sudan’s customs authorities, it said.
“Without prior warning, authorities in Addis Ababa allowed for its shipping into Khartoum on a passenger flight. There are suspicions that these weapons were intended to be used in crimes against the state, impeding the democratic transition and preventing the transition to the civil state,” SUNA reported while citing Sudanese authorities.