UAE supplying Ethiopia with arms, news reports claim

Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (C) receives Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (L) and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki (R) at the presidential palace in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi on 24 July 2018. [KARIM SAHIB/AFP via Getty Images]

Satellite images appear to show the UAE has opened an air bridge to provide the Ethiopian government military support in its fight against oppositionists in Tigray, Al Jazeera reported yesterday.

More than 90 flights were found to have travelled between the Emirates and Ethiopia between September and November this year, the news channel said. Exact details of where they took off and landed were not provided.

The images do, however, appear to show a Chinese drone arriving in Ethiopia.

Clashes are ongoing between the Ethiopian army and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the region’s ruling party, after they erupted late last year. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the battles, more than two million displaced and hundreds of thousands are facing famine-like conditions.

Much of northern Ethiopia is under a communications blackout and access for journalists is severely restricted, making battlefield claims difficult to verify.

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