Libyan rebels promised cash to keep up fight to oust Gaddafi

The 22-nation Libya contact group, which includes Britain, France and the US as well as Arab states, promised the money to rebels following a summit in Abu Dhabi.

The group has pressed anti-government fighters to give a detailed plan on how they would run the country if Col Gaddafi stood down or was toppled from power.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said talks were under way with people close to Col Gaddafi that had raised the "potential" for a transition of power without giving details.

Also referring to what he called multiple feelers from the Tripoli government, Australian foreign minister Kevin Rudd said Col Gaddafi's end "may come sooner" than expected.

The aid is the latest in a series of moves to increase pressure on the regime, following claims from the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on Thursday.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo said Col Gaddafi ordered mass rapes and gave sex drugs to troops to encourage them to attack women.

He 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.

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.

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.

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," 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."

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.