Rwandan rebels have been financing their fighting in the Great Lakes region of Africa through drug dealing, according to a United Nations report.

The UN international commission of inquiry investigating illegal arms trading in Central Africa suggests that former members of the Rwandan military and of the notorious Interahamwe militia - which was heavily involved in the 1994 genocide - are directly involved in narcotics.

The commission report says that information it had received 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.

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.

Since August that country has been battling 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.