Honduras to meet OAS but tells Zelaya "don't come"

By Mica Rosenberg

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - An interim government in Honduras warned ousted President Manuel Zelaya to stay away but indicated it could be more conciliatory in talks on Friday with the Organisation of American States over the country's crisis.

Roberto Micheletti, head of a caretaker leadership set up after an army coup, said he welcomed the chance to talk with OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza, who was expected to arrive in Honduras early on Friday with an ultimatum to reinstate Zelaya or be suspended from the regional body.

Micheletti said he could be open to holding an early presidential election and even a plebiscite on bringing Zelaya back to serve the last few months of his term, if that would calm the global storm over his ouster.

Insulza was cautious, however, telling reporters late on Thursday he doubted he could defuse the crisis in one visit.

"I cannot say I am confident," he told reporters in Guyana. "I will do everything I can but I think it is very hard to turn things around in a couple of days."

The OAS, which groups most countries in the Americas including the United States, is a mostly symbolic organisation that promotes peace and justice but has limited powers.

The new Honduran administration has so far rebuffed any attempt to bring back Zelaya, who was ousted in a dawn coup in a dispute over presidential term limits that has become Central America's biggest political crisis since the U.S. invasion of Panama in 1989.

The hitherto bloodless overthrow in the impoverished coffee and textile exporting country of 7 million people has created a test for regional diplomacy and for U.S. commitment to shoring up democracy in Latin America.