PEACEKEEPERS TO PULL OUT!

UN pulls out Eritrea peacekeepers.
By Susannah Price BBC correspondent at the United Nations here.

The UN peacekeepers are expected to leave on Friday. The UN Security Council has decided to pull US, Canadian and European staff serving in the peacekeeping mission in Eritrea out of the country. Some 180 personnel, who are military observers and civilians, will be temporarily relocated to Ethiopia.

The move follows Eritrea's demand that the UN staff should leave by Friday. Tensions along the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea have risen with reports of troop movements on both sides in recent months.

The UN peacekeepers who mostly come from the developing world are monitoring the border following a war between the two countries that ended in 2000.