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Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan (AFP) Dec 2, 2010 US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Bishkek Thursday for a brief visit to the volatile Central Asian state that hosts a key US air base used to ferry troops to Afghanistan. Clinton was due to meet President Roza Otunbayeva, then to take part in a television broadcast, before flying to Uzbekistan in the afternoon. Her visit to Bishkek came as three of the country's political movements agreed to form a coalition government, almost two months after parliamentary elections whose results were long delayed. Clinton praised the country for forming a coalition based on democratic elections at a news conference. She thanked Kyrgyzstan for continuing to host the Manas air base and said it would benefit from the deployment of US troops in Afghanistan. "Kyrgyzstan will be more secure if we can help the Afghan people build a peaceful, stable country," she said. Several of the parties that gained most votes in the polls have campaigned for the closure of Manas, which is used to transfer most of the US troops to Afghanistan and to refuel military planes. The US pays 60 million dollars per year to rent the base, plus 110 million dollars in economic aid to the impoverished ex-Soviet state. Otunbayeva said the future of the airbase would be decided by the incoming government, but stressed its importance in battling militants in Afghanistan. "I would like to underline the particular role of the Manas airbase in fighting terrorism and the contribution of Kyrgyzstan," she said, voicing fears of violence spreading from Afghanistan into its northern neighbour. Pressed on a controversy over who supplies fuel to the airbase, Clinton said the United States would be willing to help found a Kyrgz company that could take on the lucractive contract. Some 80 people were killed in a violent uprising this spring that toppled the previous president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev. Clashes between the ethnic Kyrgyz majority and the Uzbek minority in the south in June left hundreds dead. The US-based human rights organisation Human Rights Watch on Thursday called for Clinton to demand a "thorough and impartial investigation" into both outbreaks of violence.
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