Enciso Rodrigo Aceves, federal prisoner # 17690-198, appeals the dismissal for failure to exhaust of his pro se action under Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. 388, 91 S.Ct. 1999, 29 L.Ed.2d 619 (1971), in which he alleged that the defendants failed to protect him from an attack by fellow inmates.

Because Aceves’s appeal to the Bureau of Prisons General Counsel was pending at the time that he filed the instant suit, the district court did not err in dismissing the action for failure to exhaust. See 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a); Porter v. Nussle, 534 U.S. 516, 524, 122 S.Ct. 983, 152 L.Ed.2d 12 (2002); Powe v. Ennis, 177 F.3d 393, 394 (5th Cir. 1999). Aceves’s ignorance of *605 the law or his lack of legal assistance does not relieve Aceves of his obligation to exhaust available administrative remedies. See Fisher v. Johnson, 174 F.3d 710, 712-14 (5th Cir. 1999); Tighe v. Wall, 100 F.3d 41, 43 (5th Cir. 1996). The judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.