The council adopted a toughly-worded, non-binding statement of censure after being told by a senior UN official that personnel of the UN mission in Eritrea and Ethiopia (UNMEE) were being prevented from relocating to Ethiopia and were running out of fuel and food.

The 15-member body expressed "deep concern about the impediments and logistical constraints" that have forced the UN mission to conduct a temporary relocation to neighboring Ethiopia.

Asmara's move was apparently in protest against the world body's stance on the border dispute with Ethiopia.

The Security Council "strongly condemns the lack of cooperation (by Asmara) and "demands that the government of Eritrea resume full cooperation with UNMEE, the statement added.

It vowed to consider "further appropriate steps for the safety and protection of the mission and its personnel."

Eritrea's action marked a dramatic escalation of its feud with UNMEE, which has seen Asmara place restrictions on fuel shipments in a move that severely hampers the UN's ability to carry out its mission.

"We are in a situation where it's getting harder and harder to stay (in Eritrea) and it's getting harder and harder to leave and that's an untenable situation," Jean-Marie Guehenno, head of the UN department of peacekeeping operations (DPKO), told reporters.

"It's a very serious situation ... We're running out of fuel, we're running out of food," he said.

"We are trying to engage the Eritrean authorities to resolve the pending issues but this is a situation that is a challenge to the Security Council, to the welfare of our peacekeepers and that has broad implications," Guehenno said.

UNMEE is tasked with monitoring the tense Eritrean-Ethiopian border along which a total of some 200,000 troops from both sides are deployed, fueling fears of a new flare-up.

"A number of UNMEE vehicles were stopped by the Eritrean Defense Forces and prevented from crossing the border. In one such case, on 14 February, UNMEE personnel were threatened and the equipment seized," UN deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said.

And she added that the Eritrean commercial company that provides rations to UNMEE announced Friday that "it will no longer be able to fulfill its contractual obligations."

DPKO officials, meanwhile, met with representatives of countries countributing troops to the UNMEE.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon ordered the relocation of UNMEE personnel and equipment after Eritrea ignored his request to lift restrictions on fuel shipments to the UN force.

Asked why Asmara was blocking the relocation involving up to 1,200 of the 2,000-strong UNMEE, a UN official familar with the situation replied: "We've seen a variety of responses: everything from they simply have to turn around, to they can go through but the equipment has to stay. There seem to be different responses every time."

"We are doing everything that we can on our side, but without the consent of the host government it becomes very difficult to envisage a scenario in which our mandate can be implemented," said DPKO spokesman Nick Birnback.

In a communique, the Eritrean Foreign Ministry said it could not discuss or acquiesce in the "temporary relocation" of UNMEE or some other new "arrangement" that is at variance with the provisions of a peace agreement.

Under the 2000 Algiers peace deal which ended their two-year border war, Eritrea and Ethiopia pledged to accept as "final and binding" a verdict by a UN-backed boundary commission on their dispute.

But the panel dissolved early in December, leaving the frontier delineated only on maps. In its final ruling, it granted Eritrea the border town of Badme, which Ethiopia has refused to accept, saying it split families between the countries.

Eritrea has repeatedly accused its bigger and more powerful neighbor of gearing up for a new war, a claim dismissed by Addis Ababa as a bid by Asmara to divert attention from its internal problems.

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