The second-round of talks on the political crisis in Honduras ended in stalemate on Saturday, further complicating the issue as both sides put up a more defensive stance.
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Ousted Honduras President Manuel Zelaya speaks to the media during a news conference at the Honduras embassy in Managua beside his Foreign Minister Patricia Rodas July 13, 2009. Manuel Zelaya on Monday gave a one-week ultimatum to the coup government of Roberto Micheletti to restore his presidential power as demanded by the governments and organizations from the world. [Xinhua/Reuters Photo] |
The ousted president Manuel Zelaya vowed to return to the country as the de facto government beefed up securities to prevent him from setting feet on its soil.
Analysts said any imprudence could end up in further setbacks for the international efforts to break the deadlock arising from the June 28 military coup.
No deal on unity government
A spokesman for Roberto Micheletti, the former congress speaker who took over the presidency after the coup, rejected a plan for a reconciliation government led by Zelaya.
"They want to restore President Zelaya without any negotiation," Mario Saldana told reporters, "That is not viable."
Zelaya, who enjoys wide international support, also departed from his earlier acceptance of a power-sharing government with whatever political forces.
Those responsible for the June 28 coup will not be accepted by the reconciliation government, a close aide to Zelaya told reporters in Nicaragua.
A compromise plan
Earlier in the talks, held in Costa Rican capital San Jose, Costa Rican President Oscar Arias who mediated the Honduran crisis, came up with proposals for solving the standoff.
According to the plan, Zelaya would return to office in a unity government and amnesty would be granted to all crimes before and after the coup.
Meanwhile, presidential elections scheduled for November would be held a month earlier in October. The army which toppled Zelaya must submit to the electoral authorities the month before the elections, and Zelaya would have to shelve his plan for constitutional reforms.
The constitutional reform had been Honduras' apple of discord -- the military coup was staged just hours before a non-binding referendum on calling a constitutional assembly for possible changes including extending the one-term limit to the presidency.
Micheletti's allies said Zelaya was seeking indefinite re-elections, something prohibited by the Constitution.
Zelaya, insisting that such reform was essential for the nation's development, had sacked the head of the nation's defense forces a week before the coup.
Violence flare-up in Honduras
The deposed leader, somewhat frustrated by the slow negotiation process, Tuesday called on the Honduran people to stage an "insurrection" against the de facto government.
Pelting stones and wielding sticks, Zelaya's supporters and those who sided with the post-coup interim government clashed in a coastal city of Honduras on Saturday, leaving many people injured.
Witnesses said many people, including some children, were badly beaten, and the police had to intervene to bring the situation under control.
Also on Saturday, in the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa, hundreds of Zelaya's supporters, also known as the "Zelayistas," blocked a main pathway in the south of the urban area.
Micheletti said Zelaya's repeated calls for insurrection are no different from instigating a civil war.
"He is calling for a national insurrection," Micheletti told a Colombian radio station on Friday. "He is calling for a bloodbath."
(Xinhua News Agency July 19, 2009)
