U.N. officials have delayed plans to begin removing peacekeeping staff from Eritrea (Wednesday in hopes the government may be persuaded to rescind its order for the withdrawal.

A U.N. spokesman says the U.N. Security Council will meet later today to consider its options for the peacekeeping mission.

On Tuesday, the Eritrean government refused to meet with the head of U.N. peacekeeping operations Jean-Marie Guehenno, who is still hoping to dissuade Asmara from expelling Western peacekeepers.

Eritrea last week ordered U.S., Canadian and European members of the U.N. peacekeeping mission to leave the area within 10 days.

The order came amid growing concern of a new flare-up along the border, where the countries fought a two-year war that killed 70,000 people.

Ethiopia said Tuesday that it will pull back troops from the border, while maintaining what it calls a "proportional force" in the area.

Some information for this report provided by Reuters, AP.