Gaddafi forces using Viagra, condoms as part of sexual violence against rebels?
April 30th, 2011 - 1:22 pm ICT by ANITripoli, Apr 30 (ANI): U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Susan E. Rice has raised serious concerns over reports that Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s forces have been supplied with tablets of Viagra and condoms as part of a campaign of sexual violence against women, but failed to give any concrete evidence.
She made the allegation during a United Nation Security Council (UNSC) meeting after facing criticism from council members like India, China, and Russia, that the Western-backed coalition has gone far beyond the UN mandate to protect rebels in the country’s ongoing civil war, the Foreign Policy reports.
Rice, however, insisted that the conflict in Libya is not any ordinary civil war, adding that the opposition took up arms only after Gaddafi’s forces opened fire on peaceful demonstrators.
According to a U.N. diplomat present in the meeting, Rice cited reports claiming that the dictator’s loyalists are targeting children and issuing ‘Viagra to the regime’s forces “so they go out and rape,” but failed to provide evidence.
A doctor in Ajdabiya, Suleiman Refadi, had claimed last month that Gaddafi’s forces had received packets of Viagra to rape women, adding: “I have seen Viagra, I have seen condoms.”
After interviewing the doctor, Human Rights Watch, however, said that no direct evidence was found to support his claims because they failed to identify victims and witnesses in Adjabiya who to confirm such reports.
“We have a few credible cases of gender based violence and rape, but the evidence is not there at this point to suggest it is of a systematic nature, or an official policy. On Viagra and condom distribution we have nothing so far. It’s not to dismiss it, but we do not have the evidence,” Fred Abrahams, a special advisor for Human Rights Watch, said. (ANI)
- Gaddafi forces regain strategic town of Ajdabiya (Lead) - Mar 16, 2011
- 53 Gaddafi supporters found executed in Sirte - Oct 25, 2011
- 'Fuelled by Viagra' Gaddafi forces using rape as weapon against rebel children, women - Apr 26, 2011
- UK Tornado jets launch precision bomb raids on Libya - Mar 26, 2011
- Gaddafi's troops ordered to rape - Apr 18, 2011
- US calls upon UN to authorise Libya air strikes - Mar 17, 2011
- Coalition forces 'strike Gaddafi's home town' : Libyan state TV - Mar 27, 2011
- India, four others abstain from UN's Libya no-fly zone resolution - Mar 18, 2011
- UNSC adopts plan to send observers to Syria - Apr 15, 2012
- ICC requests arrest warrant against Libya's Muammar Gaddafi - May 17, 2011
- NATO campaign aimed at ousting Gaddafi - Russian NATO envoy - May 25, 2011
- US stopped 'Gaddafi's deadly advance': Obama (Lead) - Mar 29, 2011
- ICC probes gender crimes in Libya, calls for efforts to prevent escape of Gaddafi's son - Nov 03, 2011
- Arab world turmoil: Libya tense, sectarian clashes in Bahrain (Roundup) - Mar 04, 2011
- Italy calls on Gaddafi to surrender - Aug 22, 2011
Tags: allegation, ambassador to the united nations, colonel muammar gaddafi, concrete evidence, condom distribution, direct evidence, fred abrahams, human rights watch, india china, libyan leader colonel muammar gaddafi, loyalists, muammar gaddafi, peaceful demonstrators, rape women, serious concerns, sexual violence, systematic nature, united nation security council, unsc, violence against women