The Associated Press reported Wednesday the International Criminal Court at the Hague is probing the use of 'Viagra-like drugs' in systemic terror-rapes carried out by Qaddafi's forces in Libya.
Luis Moreno Ocampo, chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court, said he is investigating whether Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi provided 'Viagra' to Libyan soldiers to promote the rape of women during the current conflict.
Ocampo said his office is collecting evidence on rapes and has become increasingly convinced Qaddafi decided to punish women supporting opposition forces using rape, which would be a new method in the Libyan conflict of instilling terror and trying to control the population.
Ocampo told reporters at a press conference Wednesday that some witnesses confirmed that the government was buying containers of Viagra-type drugs "to promote the possibility to rape."
"We are trying to see who was involved," Moreno Ocampo said. "We need to prove the connection with some people."
The ICC has conducted investigations into the systematic use of rape as a means of oppressing a populace in Uganda, Congo, and the Central African Republic but has never investigated a case of systemic 'drug enhanced rape.'
"This would be a horrific first," Ocampo told reporters.
The probe is only the most recent chapter in the ICCs ongoing investigation into alleged war-crimes by the Qaddafi regime during Libya's ongoing civil war.
Meanwhile, US officials said Defense Secretary Robert Gates pointedly prodded five allied nations Wednesday to share more of the burden of the NATO-led air campaign against Libya.
The officials said none committed to do more.
Officials said Gates used his final NATO meeting before his official retirement to press Germany and Poland to join the military intervention, and Spain, Turkey and the Netherlands to contribute to strike missions against ground targets.
Gates' request comes as the US steps up its game in Yemen where it has launched a wave of targeted killings on Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula leaders.
Al-Qaeda in Yemen has become increasingly aggressive and has begun making moves to carve out sections of the country, now torn by civil war, for itself.