UN Security Council holds first meeting on Ethiopia Tigray crisis

UN calls for humanitarian corridor as Ethiopia threatens to attack separatist Tigray capital, Mekele

An Ethiopian refugee, fleeing from fighting in the Tigray region, walks past a World Food Program tent, at a camp on the Sudan-Ethiopia border. Reuters

The UN Security Council will on Tuesday hold its first meeting on the conflict in Ethiopia's Tigray region, diplomatic sources said.

The online meeting will not be open to the public and it is not yet clear if a statement will be issued afterwards, the sources said on Monday.

Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has ordered the leaders of the northern region of Tigray to surrender before a threatened all-out assault on its capital, Mekele.

Mr Abiy launched the military campaign against the Tigray People's Liberation Front on November 4, accusing it of attacking two federal military camps in the region, and of seeking to destabilise his government.

Hundreds of people are reported to have been killed, but a communications blackout has made claims from both sides difficult to verify.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres last week called for the opening of humanitarian corridors to assist civilians caught in the fighting, saying that the authorities had so far rejected attempts at mediation.

"We are very worried about the situation in Ethiopia," Mr Guterres said in New York, warning of a "dramatic humanitarian impact" including in neighboring Sudan.

"We have been asking for the full respect of international humanitarian law and also for the opening of humanitarian corridors and the truces that might be necessary for humanitarian aid to be delivered," he said.

More than 40,000 Ethiopians have fled to Sudan, the UN's refugee agency said on Monday.

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Gallery: A growing humanitarian crisis