Nathaniel Raymond, executive director of the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab, told MEE the flight patterns are consistent with military logistics operations designed to obscure origins and destinations.

African sovereignty, external actors

The revelations underscore how regional conflicts are increasingly shaped by Gulf competition. The UAE has backed the RSF—accused of genocide in Darfur—while Saudi Arabia supports the Sudanese Armed Forces. Egypt, Turkey, and Pakistan have also provided military support to the SAF.

For Ethiopia, the calculus is economic and strategic. The UAE has invested heavily in Ethiopian infrastructure, and Abiy Ahmed's government faces pressure from all sides as it navigates conflicts in Tigray, tensions with Somalia, and internal political fragility.

But allowing foreign powers to use Ethiopian territory as a staging ground for proxy wars in neighboring countries raises fundamental questions about sovereignty, neutrality, and the African Union's stated principles of non-interference.

The UAE Foreign Ministry has denied supporting the RSF. Maximus Air, the operator registered to the aircraft, did not respond to requests for comment. Ethiopian authorities also declined to comment.

Yet the flight logs don't lie. The planes take off, they land, they refuel, they leave. And somewhere in Sudan, the war continues.

54 countries, 2,000 languages, 1.4 billion people. When Gulf powers fight their proxy wars, they increasingly do it on African soil—and with African complicity.