President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla are expected to be at the airport when Betancourt, who was rescued on Wednesday after six years in the hands of leftist Colombian guerrillas, arrives with her family on a special French flight from Bogota.

Sarkozy has played an active role in seeking the liberation of Betancourt since he took office last year, pushing for negotiations with her captors and urging the Colombian authorities to avoid any military action.

The French government was consequently kept in the dark about the Colombian rescue mission, unlike the United States, and Sarkozy was only informed Betancourt had been freed after Colombian soldiers had extracted her from the jungle.

Sarkozy's rival in the 2007 election, Socialist politician Segolene Royal, was swift to jump on this and warned her old opponent not to make political capital out of the situation.

"Everyone knows that this well-executed Colombian operation proves that negotiations with the FARC (guerrillas) were useless and fruitless," Royal told radio reporters on a visit to Canada.

"Any controversy or political gain would be totally out of place because Nicolas Sarkozy had absolutely nothing to do with her liberation," she added.

Her sharp tone punctured the political goodwill generated by the release of Betancourt, who lived in France in her youth and has dual French nationality thanks to a now annulled marriage.

"It was inelegant of Segolene Royal to dare to say such a thing," said Jerome Chartier, a parliamentarian and member of Sarkozy's UMP party.

French Human Rights Minister Rama Yade said: "Segolene Royal thinks she is always on the campaign trail. The French people will not be fooled by her political manoeuvring."

France took Betancourt's plight to its heart over the past six years, enthusiastically embracing her as one of its own and staging countless marches and demonstrations on her behalf.

The French state dispatched an official aircraft to Bogota within hours of her release, carrying family members who live in Paris as well as the French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner.

Kouchner told RTL radio on Friday her liberation was clearly a personal success for Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, who has always adopted an uncompromising approach in dealings with the FARC and ruled out any negotiations.

"He wasn't always in favour of all the French initiatives," Kouchner said on Friday. "This is a victory for (Uribe) without any doubt, but it is not a defeat for others," he added, refusing to get involved in any controversy over the affair.

"Often in this job as foreign minister there isn't much pleasure, well this time there is and I am going to enjoy it."