Khartoum Airport Remains Closed Day 3; Sudan Pursues UN Security Council Action on Drone Evidence Package

On May 7, 2026 — Day 1118 of Sudan's civil war — Khartoum International Airport remained shut for a third consecutive day under the 72-hour suspension announced on May 5 after an RSF/UAE-supplied drone was intercepted approaching the airfield. Sudan's Foreign Ministry confirmed that Sudanese Ambassador El Zain Ibrahim Hussein had been recalled from Addis Ababa 'for consultations' and was not returning to Ethiopia. Sudan's diplomatic representatives simultaneously advanced the country's case at the UN Security Council in New York, presenting the evidence package — including drone wreckage serial numbers and radar tracking data — that SAF spokesperson Brig. Gen. Asim Awad Abdelwahab had publicly disclosed at the May 5 press conference. Foreign Minister Mohieddin Salem indicated Sudan was requesting an emergency UNSC session to address what he characterized as UAE and Ethiopian state sponsorship of RSF drone attacks on Sudanese sovereign territory. The request came amid broader awareness of Sudan's deteriorating position at international institutions: Sudan's ICJ lawsuit accusing the UAE of complicity in genocide in Darfur had been dismissed on jurisdictional grounds in May 2025 when the UAE invoked its reservation to the Genocide Convention's dispute-resolution clause, leaving the UNSC as Sudan's primary multilateral lever. Humanitarian agencies warned that continued closure of Khartoum airport — which had only recently resumed commercial operations for the first time since the war began in April 2023 — would compound already critical aid logistics shortages. Radio Dabanga reported that organizations including UNHCR and MSF had been planning to use the newly reopened airport to accelerate medical supplies to Khartoum State, where civilian infrastructure has been systematically damaged by three years of fighting. The UAE maintained its denial of involvement, with an unnamed official dismissing Sudan's government as not representing 'the legitimate government of Sudan and its honourable people.' Ethiopia's government maintained its counter-accusation that Sudan was harboring TPLF-linked 'mercenaries' along the shared border in the Amhara and Benishangul-Gumuz regions. Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry continued calling for de-escalation and dialogue between Sudan and Ethiopia, while the African Union Peace and Security Council requested an emergency briefing on the drone attack accusations.