By IAN SPARKS

Last updated at 00:41 11 December 2007

The conventional treatment for a visiting head of state is five-star accommodation and a fleet of limousines.

This one brought his own tent and camel.

Security might consist of some hefty male bodygaurds and strategically-placed marksmen.

This VIP brought 30 blue-uniformed females, all supposedly virgins.

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Few of the orthodoxies of a state visit remained unchallenged as Colonel Muammar Gaddafi breezed into Paris in his Bedouin robes yesterday.

His 400-strong entourage arrived on no fewer than five planes before heading to the Hotel de Marigny, where the Libyan leader will pitch his heated tent in the grounds.

He was said to be bringing a Saharan camel with him in order to "greet visitors in the true desert tradition".

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His personal unit of female guards clad in blue camouflage uniforms, who will protect him around the clock, are trained killers.

Gaddafi raised his fist triumphantly in the air as he arrived at the Elysee Palace, where he was greeted by President Sarkozy.

Sarkozy extended the invitation after French involvement in the release of five Bulgarian nurses and a doctor who were condemned to death in Libya earlier this year.

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Since then, the two countries have been strengthening their ties with several billion pound trade deals including the purchase of Airbus planes, fighter jets and a contract to build a nuclear reactor for civil use in Libya.

Libya ended decades of isolation from the international community four years ago when it gave up its pursuit of nuclear arms and renounced terrorism.

Libyan-French relations further improved when Tripoli accepted responsibility for the 1989 shooting down of a French airliner over Niger and offered compensation to the victims.

During his five-day visit - his first to France since 1973 - Gaddafi will tour the Palace of Versailles, dine at the Ritz Hotel and meet representatives of the North African community in France.

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A French foreign ministry spokesman said: "His country traditions dictate that he travels with his tent and a camel, and arrangements are being made for this."

Not everyone in France was as at ease about the visit as the presdident seemed, however.

Rama Yade, the country's Secretary of State for Human Rights, said France should demand "guarantees" on human rights from its visitor.

"Colonel Gaddafi must understand that our country is not a doormat on which a leader, terrorist or not, can come and wipe the blood of his crimes off his feet. France should not receive this kiss of death," he said.

While Gaddafi has not been in France for 34 years, his son Hannibal has made quite an impact there.

The 28-year-old playboy triggered a major diplomatic incident in Paris two years ago when he was arrested for allegedly punching his pregnant girlfriend and wrecking a hotel suite.

He had to be arrested by armed police at the Paris Intercontinental, but was later released on bail.

Six months earlier he was pulled over for driving his Porsche at 70mph down the Champs-Elysees.

Two years before that, Hannibal was arrested for attacking three Italian policemen with a fire extinguisher while on holiday in Rome.

In all the incidents, he successfully claimed diplomatic immunity and no charges were ever brought.