An official with Sudan’s Foreign Ministry condemned Yibeltal Aemero Alemu’s Monday statement confirming that the Ethiopian forces had shot down a plane carrying weapons for the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) after it passed through Sudanese airspace and violated Ethiopian airspace, the ministry said in a statement.

"These unfounded allegations are contrary to the usual diplomatic traditions in communicating with the official authorities... especially since the two countries’ leaderships seek to strengthen bilateral relations," Fadl Abdullah Fadl, director general of African affairs with Sudan’s Foreign Ministry, was quoted as saying in the statement.

Last week, the Ethiopian air force announced that it shot down a plane carrying weapons to the rebel TPLF that had violated Ethiopian airspace via Sudan.

The incident came as a new round of fighting started between the Ethiopian government forces and the TPLF.

On August 24, the Ethiopian government accused the TPLF of resuming fighting in the county’s northern region. Meanwhile, the TPLF reportedly said a humanitarian truce, signed in March, had been violated by government forces.

Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous nation, has seen a devastating conflict between government-allied troops and forces loyal to the rebel group since November 2020, which has left millions in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.