US says Gaddafi troops raping, issued Viagra-envoys

UNITED NATIONS, (Reuters) – The U.S. envoy to the  United Nations told the Security Council today that  troops loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi were increasingly  engaging in sexual violence and some had been issued the  impotency drug Viagra, diplomats said.
Several U.N. diplomats who attended a closed-door Security  Council meeting on Libya told Reuters that U.S. Ambassador  Susan Rice raised the Viagra issue in the context increasing  reports of sexual violence by Gaddafi’s troops.
“Rice raised that in the meeting but no one responded,” a  diplomat said on condition of anonymity. The allegation was  first reported by a British newspaper.
Pfizer Inc’s drug Viagra is used to treat impotence.
If it is true that Gaddafi’s troops are being issued  Viagra, diplomats said, it could indicate that they are being  encouraged by their commanders to engage in rape to terrorize  the population in areas that have supported the rebels.
The use of rape as a weapon during wartime has received  increasing attention at the United Nations. Last year, U.N.  Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed a special envoy on  sexual violence during armed conflict, Margot Wallstrom.
Earlier this month, Wallstrom chided the Security Council  for failing to mention sexual violence in two recent  resolutions on Libya, despite having made the subject a  priority.
Wallstrom said at the time that reports of rape in Libya  remained unconfirmed but cited the highly publicized case of  Eman al-Obaidi, the woman who burst into a journalists’ hotel  in Tripoli last month saying she had been raped by  pro-government militiamen.
The International Criminal Court is already investigating  whether Gaddafi’s government committed war crimes in its  violent crackdown against demonstrators who demanded greater  freedoms. The crackdown sparked a rebellion that has turned  into a civil war.
The U.S. mission to the United Nations declined to  comment.