Authorities in the Sudanese capital Khartoum have seized a shipment of weapons at Khartoum airport arriving from neighboring Ethiopia,
Late Saturday, the shipment was confiscated arrived on an Ethiopian Airlines passenger flight, prompting an immediate launch of investigations, the Sudanese News Agency said.
The Sudanese Authorities were informed of the arrival of a weapons shipment from Addis Ababa on an Ethiopian Airlines flight.
According to Sudan News Agency the weapons had originally been sent from Russia to Ethiopia in May 2019 and were held by authorities there for two years. Without prior warning, authorities in Addis Ababa allowed for its shipping into Khartoum on a passenger flight.
The confiscated shipment of 72 boxes reportedly contained weapons and night-vision binoculars.
The ill intention of this ammunition was despicably targeted on high grounds on suspicions that they were meant to be used in anti-state crime, to impede the democratic transition, and prevent transition to civilian rule
Politically, The country is currently led by a joint civilian-military ruling council. Sudan has been undergoing a rocky transition since the April 2019 ouster of Islamist president Omar al-Bashir following mass protests against his rule.
The development comes at a time of souring relations between Khartoum and Addis Ababa over Ethiopian farmers’ use of a fertile border region claimed by Sudan.
In 2011, Addis Ababa broke ground on the project. The two countries have also been at odds over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), in a regional dispute that involves Egypt.
Late last month, Ethiopian officials said they had thwarted an attack on the GERD by armed groups who have been trained and armed by Sudan. In a response, the Sudanese government flatly denied the allegations, referring to them as baseless accusations.
Ethiopia has been grappling with a grinding conflict in its northern Tigray region since last November and the fighting has sent tens of thousands of refugees into Sudan.
Also, Ethiopian war has drastically pulled huge humanitarian crisis in the region. The controversial Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed last month has been urging able-bodied men and women to join a military campaign to triumph in the Tigray region.
The Ethiopian leader came to power preaching unity and was praised for being a beacon of hope. He also struck a landmark peace deal with the longtime crisis I Eritrea that gave him an upper hand thereby winning him the support of international peace agencies globally.
Another Remarkable achievement was that the prime minister released thousands of political prisoners, lifted restrictions on the press and promised to overturn decades of repressive authoritarian rule.
Following all these outstanding accomplishments, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019. An achievement not owned by many presidents in the world with him being the latest to win this prestigious award on the African continent.
The prime ministers request has been denounced by many latest saying the injection of fresh recruits into the fighting will only lead to more bloodshed in the deeply polarised and ethnically divided nation, potentially destabilizing the wider Horn of Africa causing a dire humanitarian emergency.
Over the past nine months of conflict, thousands of people have been killed and some two million have been displaced, while hundreds of thousands of others face famine conditions amid reports of massacres, sexual assault and ethnic cleansing.
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