Eritrea has ordered the expulsion of United States, Canadian and European staff of the United Nations peacekeeping mission that monitors the border with neighboring Ethiopia, UN officials said Wednesday.

In a letter sent to the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea, Eritrea said the Americans, Canadians and Europeans have 10 days to leave the Horn of Africa nation.

"The officer in charge of the mission received a letter yesterday from the Eritrean government. They are asking some of our members of staff to leave, but the specifics of that letter are yet to be worked out,'' said Musi Khumalo, deputy spokeswoman of the UN mission.

It was not clear how many staff of nearly 3,300 peacekeepers and military observers were involved.

Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after a 30- year guerrilla war, but the border between the two was never formally demarcated.

The two countries fought a bloody 1998-2000 war over the border that claimed some 80,000 lives.

Source: Xinhua