NEW DELHI, MARCH 11: The Indian peacekeeping contingent posted at the UN Mission in Eritrea has returned after the country refused to provide crucial logistics support like food and fuel to the troops posted along the Ethiopian border.

Sources said the decision to send back the troops was taken by the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations after supplies were cut by the Eritrean Government, making operations on the ground “difficult to sustain”.

While the first group of 115 troops returned on Monday, the final batch of 290 Indian peacekeepers landed in the capital on Tuesday evening. Sources said a small contingent of peacekeepers will remain in Eritrea as the rear party to manage the relocation of the UN equipment there.

India has a 720-member force at the UN Mission to Eritrea and Ethiopia. The troops were posted along the border in 2000 following clashes between the two countries. Sources confirmed that the troops on Ethiopian side of the border will remain deployed as they have not been asked to return by the UN.

Government officials said the decision to pull out troops from Eritrea was taken after ground reports on the lack of crucial supplies were sent by the peacekeeping contingents, including the Indian force, to the UN Headquarters.

The reports made it clear that the UN security mandate “cannot be implemented” on the ground due to the lack of supplies and severe restrictions on the movements of the UN troops by the Eritrean Government. They also said that troops were being “harassed” by local authorities and diesel supply had been totally cut off.

Other than India, members of the Jordanian and Kenyan contingents have also been sent back to their home countries. The UN had an estimated 1,300 troops in Eritrea, most of whom are being pulled back.