With his bedouin tent installed in a garden adjoining the Elysée palace, a white limousine to drive him round Paris and a welcome from the French republican guard, Moammar Gadaffi, on Monday took another diplomatic step in from the cold.
The French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, is the first Western leader to welcome the Libyan leader in a full state visit since the freeze in relations in the 1980s over his pariah status as champion of armed struggle and a sponsor of state terrorism.
On Monday night, Sarkozy announced contracts worth â,¬10-billion, including arms and a civilian nuclear reactor for Libya, describing them as rewards for Tripoli’s good behaviour.
After years of thawing relations with the west, French business leaders and arms manufacturers are keen for contracts with the oil-rich state. Sarkozy earlier said he wanted to encourage Gadaffi’s ”return to international respectability”.
Since his election, Sarkozy has aggressively promoted French nuclear know-how abroad, saying that Paris is ”ready to help any country” develop civilian atomic power.
Libya also signed a memorandum promising to negotiate exclusively with France for all future military purchases, though details were not released.
As Libya seeks to modernise its armed forces following the lifting of a European arms embargo in 2004, France is hoping to sell it Rafale fighter jets developed by French company Dassault Aviation.
An informed French presidential source said that Libya was planning to buy 14 Rafale fighters, as well as 35 helicopters and other military equipment in a deal worth a total of €4,5-billion.
Deals were also signed with French construction group Vinci, nuclear group group Areva and water giant Veolia, for a total value of around €10-billion, according to the Elysée.
‘Doormat’
But this visit has exposed a rift in Sarkozy’s Cabinet. The Junior Human Rights Minister, Rama Yade, who is often held up as a model of race and gender diversity, joined opposition politicians in condemning Gadaffi’s human rights record. She told Le Parisien newspaper that France was not a ”doormat” on which the Libyan leader could wipe off the blood of his crimes.
Swiftly called to the president’s office, Yade tempered her comments and said she had no intention of resigning.
Gadaffi’s highly embroidered tent has been set up in the garden of the Hotel Marigny for meetings during his six-day visit. But Sarkozy’s office said the Libyan leader would sleep indoors and that his appointments with the French president would take place in the Elysée. Gadaffi — who has been reported to be keen to go shooting and visit Charles de Gaulle’s grave — is scheduled to tour the Palace of Versailles. He will also meet women from France’s run-down suburban estates. – Guardian Unlimited Â