ASMARA, Apr 3 (bdnews24.com/Reuters) - Eritrea said on Tuesday it had urged Uganda to pull out of Somalia after taking the "hasty step" of sending peacekeepers to the anarchic nation where the situation was deteriorating.

Kampala is the only African nation so far contributing to an African Union mission in Somalia, where its 1,200 soldiers have come under attack from insurgents since arriving last month.

During a face-to-face meeting at Massawa port, the Eritrean government said President Isaias Afwerki had told his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni he was making an error.

"President Isaias went on to say that Uganda needs to take corrective measures regarding the hasty step it took in sending troops to Somalia," a statement on the government Web Site shabait.com said.

The Red Sea state said the Eritrean and Ugandan leaders agreed external forces in Somalia were "complicating the issue."

"President Isaias Afwerki and President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda assessed that the situation in Somalia is escalating from bad to worse," the statement said.

"The President indicated that with a view to advising the Ugandan government against taking a wrong step regarding the issue and avoiding falling into such a trap," it added.

One Ugandan peacekeeper was killed at the weekend.

Eritrea has been accused of funneling weapons and supplies to insurgents in Mogadishu who are a mixture of Islamist and clan militia. Asmara vehemently denies that.

Hundreds of people have been killed in recent days by fighting pitting the Ethiopian-backed Somali government and insurgents in the capital Mogadishu.

Asmara and Addis Ababa fought a 1998-2000 border war which killed more than 70,000 people and tensions remain high.

Eritrea warned in a recent government editorial: "It is impossible to imagine that an alien peacekeeping mission would install peace rather than being a target itself."

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