Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has called an East African bloc leaders' meeting on November 16 to discuss the conflict in Ethiopia, a senior foreign affairs ministry official said on Thursday.

"President Museveni is in touch with the Prime Minister Abiy on the ongoing situation in Ethiopia and has expressed concern at the refusal by the Tigray group to engage in negotiations and reach a ceasefire. So we're concerned," Okello Oryem, Uganda's state minister for foreign affairs told Reuters.