TRIPOLI (AFP) — Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi, who celebrates 40 years in power on Tuesday, has imposed himself as a key international player the West cannot ignore despite his decades-long image of political pariah.

As a young colonel, Kadhafi on September 1, 1969, led a coup overthrowing the Western-backed elderly King Idriss, and quickly established himself as a belligerent, unpredictable and flamboyant leader of the oil-rich nation.

Reputedly born in a Bedouin tent in the desert near Sirte in 1942, Kadhafi alienated the West soon after seizing power, accusing it of launching a ‘’new crusade’’ against the Arabs.

His idol was Egyptian president and fervent Arab nationalist Gamal Abdel Nasser, and he has variously declared himself a fan of Mao Zedong, Stalin and even Hitler.

Libya was for decades linked to a spate of terrorist attacks the world over, with Kadhafi also being accused of using Libya’s oil wealth — the country is Africa’s third largest producer after Nigeria and Angola — to fund and arm rebel groups across Africa and beyond.

Libya became an international pariah in the aftermath of the 1988 Lockerbie airliner bombing but relations began to thaw when it agreed in 2003 to pay compensation to the families of the 270 people who were killed.

Kadhafi also renounced terrorism and declared he was giving up the pursuit of weapons of mass destruction, prompting the lifting of UN sanctions.

The declaration also shored up dramatically Libya’s ties with the West and was crowned with a visit in September 2008 by then US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice.

Kadhafi’s international rehabilitation continues and in February he was elected chairman of the African Union, after he tired from championing Arab unity and months after African tribal dignitaries bestowed on him the title of “king of kings.’’

He is frequently seen receiving world leaders in a bedouin tent, rather than in palatial buildings, and always dresses in colourful flowing robes, surrounded by an entourage of female bodyguards.

As recently as last week, US envoy to Sudan Scott Gration praised Tripoli’s role in trying to resolve the conflict in Darfur saying “we are very proud to be partners with Libya.’’

The energy-starved European Union meanwhile is currently in delicate talks for a partnership accord
with Libya initiated in 2007, after Tripoli released Bulgarian medics who had spent eight years in jail for allegedly infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV-tainted blood.

But even as Kadhafi celebrates the 40th anniversary of his grab of power with a fireworks extravaganza on Tuesday, storms continue to swirl around Libya.

The festive homecoming last week of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi, who was released by Scottish authorities on compassionate grounds, has triggered fury in the United States.

An apology to Libya by Swiss stagePresident Has-Rudolf Merz over last year’s arrest of one of Kadhafi’s sons, Hannibal, has drawn harsh criticism across the Alpine nation.

And the Arab world’s longest-serving leader continues to rile the West and Arab leaders with his belligerent and provocative statements.

In July, he blasted the UN Security Council as a form of ‘’terrorism’’ in a speech at a Non-Aligned Movement summit.

In March, he hurled insults at Saudi King Abdullah at an Arab summit, telling him: ‘’You are always lying and you’re facing the grave and you were made by Britain and protected by the United States.’’

Kadhafi is quick to praise himself however.

“I am the leader of the Arab leaders, the king of kings of Africa and the imam of the Muslims,’’ he said of himself.

On a recent trip to Italy he was quoted as describing women in the Arab and Muslim world as “a piece of furniture you can change when you want’’ and said the situation needed a ‘’feminine revolution.’’