What is the clarification of Ethiopian Airlines against the allegations of transporting 72 boxes of war armaments to Sudan ??

Allegations against Ethiopian Airlines for carrying War Armament !

Sudan's state news agency, SUNA, reported on Sunday that Sudanese authorities have seized a cargo of 72 boxes of weapons that arrived by air from Ethiopia and that they suspect were destined for use in "crimes against the state",

What does Ethiopian Airline Say ?

Ethiopian Airlines said the weapons were hunting guns that were part of a legal, verified shipment.

We would like to respond to the wrong article which appeared in SUNA, Sudan News Agency.

Ethiopian Airlines shipment of weapons to Sudan is a legal and commercial transportation of hunting guns with all proper documents of the shipper and the consignee.

The hunting guns were held by security authorities in Addis Ababa for a long time for verification and the consignee sued Ethiopian in Sudanese court to either deliver the hunting guns or pay close to USD250,000 as compensation.

As we have got a clearance from Ethiopian security authorities after completing the due verification process, we shipped them to the consignee in Sudan.

We have all the documentations that prove the legality of the shipment including a letter from Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Earlier SUNA had reported,

The shipment is being investigated by a committee tasked with dismantling the government of former President Omar al-Bashir, who was toppled in April 2019 after a popular uprising, SUNA reported.

The weapons had arrived in Ethiopia from Moscow in May 2019, the committee found.

The intended recipient of the weapons was unclear but the committee did not rule out that they were meant for former Bashir government loyalists who Sudanese authorities accuse of trying to undermine the country's fragile transition towards democracy, according to SUNA.

Social Media Buzz in the Past !

At an earlier occasion also Ethiopian Airlines had refuted social media allegations saying ,

Ethiopian Airlines strongly refutes all the recent baseless and unfounded allegations by some individuals regarding the airlines’ involvement in transporting war armament.

We reiterate that Ethiopian Airlines has never carried any war armament either in its international or domestic network.

Some irresponsible and reckless individuals have used social media to tarnish the high reputation of the airline and defame its brand. They used various Photoshopped and unrelated pictures to defame our airline which is the golden pride of Ethiopia, Africa and the entire black humanity on earth.

We would like to inform our esteemed customers, partners, stakeholders and the general public that the false and factually incorrect allegations are misleading and reckless defamations.

SUNA further added to the current development saying ,

The boxes included weapons and night-vision goggles and arrived on an Ethiopian Airlines commercial flight on Saturday night.

The committee pointed "to 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.

Involvement in African Wild Life Trade ?

In an another allegation, Scrolla Africa had reported Ethiopian Airlines involvement in  the exploitative global trade of Africa’s wildlife !

To this allegation , Ethiopian Airlines came up with clarification saying,

As an IATA member carrier, Ethiopian Airlines, takes maximum care in air transport of live animals and strictly follows all national, regional, and international regulations on the transport of live animals in line with IATA and ICAO procedures besides various governmental regulatory procedures.

The wildlife transport is carefully managed by various regulatory authorities both within the exporting and importing countries as well as by international authorities such as CITES, an international United Nations treaty comprised of 178 countries.

The transport of all wildlife is conducted in full compliance with IATA live animal regulations for all species. Ethiopian Airlines has several live animals transit rooms at its hub at Addis Ababa Bole International Airport which are climate controlled. Ethiopian Airlines actively monitors compliance and has refused shipments that were found to be not in compliance.