Sudanese authorities finally released on Tuesday 7 September a shipment of hunting weapons seized on board an Ethiopian Airlines plane from Addis Ababa. Initially suspected to be destined for supporters of former president Omar al-Bashir, it turns out that the shipment was perfectly legal, and indeed acquired by a Sudanese trader.
So this is the end of a short controversy that was not a controversy at all. The boxes of rifles, ammunition and night vision goggles seized on Saturday 4 September at Khartoum airport have been delivered to their rightful owner: a known Sudanese trader, duly registered with the authorities and having legally acquired this hunting equipment.
These weapons had been purchased in Russia in 2019, during the Sudanese revolution. Due to the political situation, they had been blocked for two years in Ethiopia. It was finally a legal action taken by the buyer that allowed them to be taken on board a commercial flight from Addis Ababa to Khartoum.
But the commission in charge of settling the accounts of the former Sudanese regime wanted to draw the attention of the authorities to this sensitive cargo. After checking with Ethiopian Airlines, the Sudanese Ministry of the Interior said in a statement on Tuesday that the customs administration had returned the cargo “after ensuring that there was no indication of a violation of the law.