The Guardian 11 February, 2009

US Kyrgyzstan base to close

The US army base in Kyrgyzstan (a former Asian constituent republic of the Soviet Union) will be closed. The decision to close the base was announced last week during talks in Moscow between the two presidents - Dmitry Medvedev of Russia and Kurmanbek Bakiyev of Kyrgyzstan.

The US air base opened in 2001 under the UN mandate to support the military operations in Afghanistan. Over 1,000 US service men and women are currently deployed at the base which is situated at the Manas international airport.

"Kyrgyzstan met the wishes of the United States and offered its territory for the anti-terrorist struggle, which was a serious contribution to the struggle. We talked about a year or two, but now it has been eight years. We have repeatedly discussed the questions of the economic compensation to Kyrgyzstan with our American partners, but have not been able to come to understanding at this point," the Kyrgyz president said.

"All of that echoed negatively in society, and people started to question the operation of the base. The government of Kyrgyzstan decided to stop the use of the base," he added.

There had been hopes that the local population would be able to get jobs at the base but apart from some menial labour there were no jobs. Wages were not paid on time and two years ago a local worker was shot dead by a US serviceman. As is the case with US personnel abroad, the soldier was quickly taken out of the country back to the US and despite high-level attempts to get some justice the case is not resolved.

Farmers are angry that US pilots dump fuel over their fields and vineyards - 80 tonnes had been dropped at one time destroying crops and contaminating the soil. The result of all these developments was that people became angry at this arrogant behaviour and the disregard for local customs and traditions. Many protest actions took place near the base.

Russia and Kyrgyzstan have signed a number of economic and investment agreements. Russia will give a US$2 billion loan to Kyrgyzstan and provide a financial assistance package to the country to the tune of US$150 million. "The funds will be used to stabilise the budget of Kyrgyzstan and develop key infrastructure objectives, particularly in the field of hydroenergetics," Russian President Medvedev said after the talks. He pointed out that there were difficult times but it was important to not only strengthen the economic ties with Kyrgyzstan but also invest in large scale projects which will contribute to the social and economic development of the region.

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