Kyrgyzstan ends 11 airbase contracts

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, March 6 (UPI) -- Kyrgyzstan lawmakers approved ending agreements with 11 countries deploying their military contingents at the Manas airbase staffed mainly by U.S. troops.

The bills that would terminate agreements with Australia, Denmark, Italy, Spain, South Korea, the Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Poland, Turkey and France, will become final after Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev signs them into law, Russian news agency ITAR-Tass reported Friday.

In February, Bakiyev signed a decree to close the Manas airbase, staffed principally by U.S. Air Force personnel and used since 2001 to support NATO operations in nearby Afghanistan.

Since the agreement with the United States has ended, the Kyrgyz parliament said compacts with other countries were "senseless," RIA Novosti reported.

Bakiyev said the decision to end the contract with the United States was over Washington's refusal to pay more for the base and the conduct of U.S. military personnel, including the killing of a Kyrgyz national by a U.S. soldier in December 2006.

Officials denied that the decision was connected to a recent financial package Kyrgyzstan received from Russia that included writing off Kyrgyzstan's $180 million debt and granting the country a $2 billion soft loan and $150 million in financial assistance.