Smugglers in Ethiopia are passing off illegally imported concotions as antiretroviral drugs used to treat people with AIDS, authorities said, warning the public against buying them, it was reported here on Monday.

"Illegally imported drugs of unauthorised quality and unpredictable effects are currently under distribution in the name of antiretrovirals (ARVs)," the general manager of Ethiopia's Drug Administration and Control Authority (DACA), Haileselassie Bihon, told journalists late on Monday.

The illicit drugs were being distributed by unauthorised people, Haileselassie said, explaining that no private health or pharmaceutical institution in Ethiopia had been licensed to import or distribute ARVs.

An estimated three million Ethiopians are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, according to figures for the year 2000 from the UN's AIDS agency.

Currently, only 2000 Ethiopians are on a government-run pilot project to evaluate the effectiveness of antiretroviral treatments in the country, according to the ministry of health.

The treatment of the human immunodeficiency virus with sophisticated antiretroviral drugs needs constant monitoring by well-trained health professionals.

Getting the right mix of medications is vital because some people suffer toxic side effects to some drugs and others encounter resistance.

AIDS experts meeting in Kenyan last month warned that spurious antiretrovirals are bound to hit the black market in Africa, as generics - cheap copes of expensive patented drugs - become more readily available.