UAE rejects claims of involvement in Sudan strike

The United Arab Emirates denied allegations by Sudan that an Emirati drone had been used in an attack on Khartoum airport on Monday launched from Ethiopia, according to a statement by a UAE official late on Tuesday.

Sudan has long accused the UAE of backing the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which have been fighting the Sudanese army in a three-year-old civil war that has devastated the country. The Gulf state has denied this and said it seeks an end to the conflict, one of the world's deadliest.

Late on Monday, Sudan's army spokesman alleged an escalation in UAE support, broadcasting images and flight paths he said showed Emirati-owned drones that had taken off from Ethiopia's Bahir Dar airport and struck several locations in Sudan in March and May. Reuters was not able to independently verify the information.

Sudanese officials also said they were prepared to respond to the alleged violation.

Asked for comment by Reuters, the UAE official said: "These fabrications are part of a calculated pattern of deflection – shifting blame to others to evade responsibility for their own actions – and are intended to prolong the war and obstruct a genuine peace process."

Ethiopia in a statement had also denied the allegations. 

In statements on Tuesday, Egypt and Saudi Arabia condemned the attack on Khartoum airport, which had recently re-opened to flights. Both countries warned against interference by Sudan's neighbours.

Massad Boulos, the U.S. administration's senior adviser for Arab and African affairs, also said external support to either side of the conflict must end.

Sudan's war erupted after the RSF and the Sudanese army fell out over plans to integrate their forces and transition to democracy.

The RSF quickly took over Khartoum but was pushed out last year. It has since consolidated control of the Darfur region in the west, and opened a new front, also marked by repeated drone attacks, in the Blue Nile state along the border with Ethiopia.