UN Peacekeepers Forced Out of Eritrea

The United Nations has begun pulling out troops from Eritrea and relocating them across the Ethiopian border, the U.N. chief said Thursday, in a setback to its peacekeeping effort.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's office said Thursday that the "temporary relocation" had begun with some of the U.N.'s advance units moving across the border by road earlier this week. The Associated Press reported last week that the U.N. was preparing an imminent pullout because of restrictions on diesel fuel imposed by the Eritrean government.

"Without the fuel needed to conduct its operations, the mission has been effectively immobilized and rendered unable to carry out its critical missions," his office said in a statement.