On 8 October, CNN reported that cargo documents and manifests, as well as eyewitness accounts and photographic evidence, confirm that arms were transported between Addis Ababa’s international airport and airports in the Eritrean cities of Asmara and Massawa on board multiple Ethiopian Airlines planes in November 2020 during the first few weeks of the Tigray conflict. Experts said the flights would constitute a violation of international aviation law, which forbids the smuggling of arms for military use on civil aircraft. The Biden Administration warned that reports that Ethiopian Airlines shuttled weapons to Eritrea as “incredibly grave” and warned that it was prepared to impose sanctions on Ethiopia and any other parties who prolonged the conflict in Tigray.
