To wipe out tribes, state officials paid millions of dollars in bounties and to support private militias.

Although Ugandan troops pulled out of Congo last month under a negotiated peace agreement, the country has still been supporting militias and political groups in the region.

The official said he took Mr. Museveni's remarks to mean that he would no longer support Congolese militias.

(The Indians, of course, have also supported ethnic militias across the border as their instruments in undermining Pakistan.)

But as Syria has stepped up its role in the shelling, supporting Lebanese Muslim militias, the Administration has decided to point the finger at Damascus for heightening the violence.

Furthermore, Iran is believed to support Shi'ite militias, such as that of Muqtada al-Sadr, which have attacked Sunni groups and populations.

He did say he agreed with the White House that Iranian operatives inside Iraq were supporting Shiite militias and working against American troops.

It portrayed it as a result of a plan conceived in Belgrade that used the Yugoslav Army initially against Serbia's neighbors and subsequently to support local Serbian militias.

The Americans have harshly criticized the Jaafari government in recent months for supporting Shiite militias that have been fomenting sectarian violence and pushing Iraq closer to full-scale civil war.

In several states, politicians have supported ethnic militias that have been used to intimidate rivals and, according to rights organizations, have sometimes killed them.