Colonel Gaddafi ordered mass rapes and gave sex drugs to troops to encourage them to attack women, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has claimed.

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Luis Moreno-Ocampo said witnesses had confirmed the Libyan government had bought containers of a Viagra-type drug to allow the policy to be carried out.

These allegations have been often repeated by rebels for over a month.

And journalists have found some evidence of the use of condoms and anti-impotence drugs in villages taken from Col Gaddafi's forces in the Nafusa Mountains and on the eastern front south of Benghazi.

Iman el Obeidi, 29, rushed the Rixos Hotel in Tripoli and before being bundled out accused members of the colonel's security forces of raping her in March earlier this year.

But until the ICC came out with its allegations it has been had to prove the widespread rebel claims. not least because very few Arab women are prepared to reveal that they have suffered sexual abuse.

The ICC investigation, which concentrated in the east, interviewed over 100 women and has allegedly gathered enough evidence to point the finger of blame for ordering the abuses at Col Gaddafi himself.

sam kiley reports from tripoli

Mr Moreno-Ocampo has already requested arrest warrants against Col Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam and Libya's spy chief on charges of crimes against humanity.

ICC judges are currently considering this request - but the prosecutor said fresh charges of mass rape may be brought.

Mr Moreno-Ocampo, who spoke in a New York news conference, said that until recently, the question had been whether Col Gaddafi himself could be associated with the rapes "or is it something that happened in the barracks?"

He said there was new information that Col Gaddafi had decided to authorise the rapes.

"The rape is a new aspect of the repression. Apparently, he decided to punish using rapes," Mr Moreno-Ocampo said.

The prosecutor said it was difficult to know how widespread such rapes were but he had received information there were several hundred victims in some areas.

Rebel sources have told Sky News that dozens of women in the western mountain villages have been violated. But it has been impossible to corroborate these claims.

UK Defence Secretary Liam Fox told Sky News he thinks the allegations are to be expected but that there is "serious evidence" behind them.

Moussa Ibrahim, the Libyan government's spokesman, said: "It's the same old nonsense. We have always asked, time and again, for people to come on the ground and investigate all accusations against us.

"Unfortunately many people to choose to accuse us cheaply of many many crimes and they refuse to come on the ground and investigate."

Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox on Libya Rape Claims

A spokesperson from Viagra manufacturer Pfizer said the company is "appalled" by the allegations of abuse and "condemns the misuse of any of its medicines".

She said Pfizer had stopped shipping all products to Libya in February, when sanctions were implemented by the international community.

Amid the fresh allegations, Western and Arab nations have met in Abu Dhabi to discuss the "end game" for Col Gaddafi, a US official has said.

Ministers from the Libya contact group, an alliance including the United States, France and Britain, as well as Arab allies Qatar, Kuwait and Jordan, agreed in May to set up a fund to help the rebels in the civil war.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the conference in the UAE the Libyan leader's days are "numbered" and his departure inevitable.

Elsewhere, Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade has appealed to Col Gaddafi to step down, and offered to help ease his former ally's exit from power.

"It is in your own interest and the interest of all the Libyan people that you leave power in Libya and never dream of coming back to power," Mr Wade said during a visit to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.

Italy pledged it would give almost $600m to rebels and encouraged other countries supporting Nato to also offer support. France is giving $290m of frozen Libyan funds to the rebels.

But the Transitional National Council has said it needs $3bn in funding to support itself for the next few months but has been appealing for diplomatic recognition and financial support with mixed results.

The summit comes after Nato stepped up airstrikes on Tripoli, prompting the heaviest day of bombardment yet on the country this week.

Col Gaddafi's troops have also escalated their violence against rebel forces, with more deaths reported in the stronghold of Misratah.

:: Sam Kiley is reporting under the supervision of the Libyan authorities.