Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has basked in a landmark visit by Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, the first by a Western leader since the United Nations lifted sanctions imposed for a 1988 airliner bombing.
Gaddafi was photographed in sumptuous purple or gold robes, held court confidently inside a white tent and surprised Aznar by presenting him with a magnificent horse.
Aznar briefed reporters on his two-day visit, which follows the UN Security Council lifting sanctions last week imposed after the bombing of a Pan Am airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, that killed 270 people.
Gaddafi's brooding presence was felt at the news conference, although he was absent. The conference was held in front of a large portrait showing Gaddafi with a clenched fist, one of many on display in public buildings and streets in Tripoli.
While Gaddafi declined a chance to talk publicly about the lifting of sanctions, he revelled in the glare of publicity provided by the dozens of journalists accompanying Aznar.
After waving goodbye to Aznar at his residence at Tripoli's Bab al Aziziya barracks, the style-conscious Gaddafi unfurled a white parasol to shade him from the hot sun, strode a few paces and climbed into a new Volkswagen Beetle. He was shielded from reporters by a phalanx of soldiers and security guards.
Thirty-four years after the army colonel came to power in a coup and after being treated as a pariah for years because of alleged Libyan involvement in the Lockerbie bombing and other attacks, Gaddafi wishes to "rejoin the international community," according to a Spanish source.
But to fully return to the international fold, Gaddafi would have to convince Washington to lift its sanctions, including a ban on imports of Libyan oil.
That would mean persuading Washington that Libya had ceased support for terrorism and was not pursuing weapons of mass destruction.