Sudanese authorities seized a cargo of 72 boxes of weapons that arrived by air from Ethiopia and suspect they were destined for use in "crimes against the state", Sudan's state news agency Suna reported on Sunday.
Ethiopian Airlines said the weapons were hunting guns, which were part of a legal, verified shipment.
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 committee did not rule out that they were destined for former Bashir government loyalists who Sudanese authorities accuse of trying to undermine the country's fragile transition towards democracy, according to Suna.
The boxes included weapons and night-vision goggles and arrived on an Ethiopian Airlines commercial flight on Saturday night, SUNA reported, without giving further details.
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.
Ethiopian Airlines said in a statement that the guns had been held for a long time in Addis Ababa for verification, and that the consignee, who it did not name, had sued the airline in a Sudanese court, demanding it deliver the guns.
Dina Mufti, spokesman for the Ethiopian Foreign Affairs Ministry, did not respond to a request for comment.
Tensions between Sudan and Ethiopia have been running high following a spillover of the conflict in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region and Ethiopia's construction of a giant hydropower dam.
The Tigray conflict has sent tens of thousands of refugees into eastern Sudan and triggered military skirmishes in an area of contested farmland along the border between the two countries.
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Marie Byrne, a counsellor who volunteers at the UAE government's mental health crisis helpline, said the ordeal the crew had been through would take time to overcome.
“It was worse than a prison sentence, where at least someone can deal with a set amount of time incarcerated," she said.
“They were living in perpetual mystery as to how their futures would pan out, and what that would be.
“Because of coronavirus, the world is very different now to the one they left, that will also have an impact.
“It will not fully register until they are on dry land. Some have not seen their young children grow up while others will have to rebuild relationships.
“It will be a challenge mentally, and to find other work to support their families as they have been out of circulation for so long. Hopefully they will get the care they need when they get home.”
