Washington - US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton resolved differences with a student who angered her with a question during a public forum in Congo, the State Department said Tuesday.

Clinton lost her cool Monday when the male student appeared to have asked her for her husband's opinion on China's growing economic clout in Africa.

"You want me to tell you what my husband thinks? My husband is not the secretary of state, I am," Clinton tersely shot back. "You ask my opinion. I will tell you my opinion - I'm not going to channel my husband."

US State Department spokesman PJ Crowley told reporters in Washington Tuesday that Clinton responded to what she thought she heard and "reacted to that."

There has been speculation that the question, asked in French, may have been mistranslated into English. Crowley cited reports that the student later said he had meant to ask for President Barack Obama's opinion - not the 42nd president's.

"At the conclusion of the town hall she and the young man got together and I don't think there were any hard feelings," Crowley said. "She reacted to what she heard, but resolved it with the student before the event ended."

Crowley also said that Clinton's reaction might also be tied to a key part of her seven-nation Africa tour, which is to promote the empowerment of women on the continent, and that the question was "posed in a way that said 'I want to get the views of two men'."

Clinton is passionate that "if Africa's going to advance in the future, the role of women has to be more significant in the continent than it is today," Crowley said.

Just as Clinton was departing for Africa last week, former president Bill Clinton snatched headlines by travelling to North Korea to secure the release of two American journalists.(dpa)