By East Africa correspondent Martin Dawes

A UN report says Rwandan rebels have financed

their fighting in the Great Lakes region of Africa

through drug dealing.

The UN international commission of inquiry

investigating illegal arms trading in Central Africa

reports that information suggested that the drug

mandrax was smuggled from India through Kenya

and Tanzania and on to South Africa.

It adds that narcotics are also said to have been

supplied from South America.

According to the commission, numerous reports

implicate senior figures in the former Rwandan

military and the Interahamwe militia, which was

heavily involved in the 1994 genocide.

The commission says there is information that

former officials recruited and raised funds in

Kenya to buy arms for use against the Rwandan

government.

It states that the rebels, having been scattered

throughout Central Africa, are converging in the

Democratic Republic of Congo.

Great lakes 'catastrophe'

Since August that country has been battleing a

rebellion which is being supported by the new

Rwandan government and Uganda.

The report says that the Great Lakes region is

heading towards a catastrophe unless urgent and

decisive measures are taken by the international

community.

The fact that Rwandan rebels have become a

significant component in the forces supporting the

government of the Democratic Republic of the

Congo and have achieved a form of legitimacy is,

says the commission, a profoundly shocking state

of affairs.

24 NOV 1998 16H08 GMT BBC