**Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya says he will return from Nicaragua to Honduras on Friday, after mediation talks failed to produce a breakthrough.**The negotiations brokered by Costa Rica aimed to find a way to reach agreement between Mr Zelaya and the interim government to allow his return.
He was exiled on 28 June after a crisis erupted over his attempts to hold a vote on changing the constitution.
Mr Zelaya made an abortive attempt to return home on 5 July.
Then his plane was prevented from landing when the Honduran military blocked the runway.
Speaking in neighbouring Nicaragua on Wednesday, Mr Zelaya said this time he would head to the border and return home by land.
“I will go back unarmed, pacifically so that Honduras can return to peace and tranquillity,” Mr Zelaya said. “My wife and children will accompany me.”
‘Clock ticking’
The ousted leader was speaking after delegations from the two sides attended talks in Costa Rica mediated by President Oscar Arias.
Mr Arias produced a detailed plan to facilitate Mr Zelaya’s return, which include proposals for:
- Mr Zelaya to return to the presidency on Friday and serve out his term which ends in January 2010
- a government of national reconciliation to be formed by 27 July
- an amnesty to be granted covering political crimes committed during this crisis
- a truth commission to be set up to investigate events in the run-up to Mr Zelaya’s removal
- presidential elections to be held a month early, on 28 October.
President Arias, a Nobel peace laureate, said this was his third and final attempt to mediate a peaceful solution.
“The clock is ticking fast, and it’s ticking against the Honduran people,” he said.
“I warn you that this plan is not perfect. Nothing in democracy is perfect.”
Delegates of the interim government reiterated they would not reinstate Mr Zelaya as president but said they would present the Arias plan to Congress.
But since it was Congress that approved the ousting of Mr Zelaya, the move may prove to be of limited importance, says the BBC Central America correspondent, Stephen Gibbs.
If no agreement were reached, Mr Arias suggested that the Organisation of American States (OAS) take over the negotiations.
That might put further pressure on the interim government, says our correspondent.
The OAS, along with other international groupings, has been quite clear that Mr Zelaya is the legitimate president, and should be reinstated immediately.
‘No return’
The crisis was triggered when Mr Zelaya sought to hold a non-binding public consultation to ask people whether they supported efforts to change the constitution.
Critics interpreted that as an attempt to remove the current one-term limit on serving as president.
The Supreme Court declared his attempt to hold a vote illegal under the Honduran constitution and the military was sent to arrest him. He was flown into exile on 28 June.
Carlos Lopez, foreign minister in the military-backed interim government, told reporters in the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa, on Wednesday that there was no chance of Mr Zelaya returning as president.
“This hypothesis of a possible return of Mr Zelaya to occupy the presidency is completely ruled out.”
Speaking in Managua, Mr Zelaya said: “The coup leaders are totally refusing my reinstatement.”
“By refusing to sign, [the talks] have failed.”
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