Honduras sunk into further disarray on Friday after Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, ousted in a military-backed coup, said a US-brokered deal to end the nation’s four-month crisis had collapsed.
Presidential elections due on Nov. 29 were in jeopardy as Zelaya called for his supporters to boycott them and return to the streets of the polarized nation.
Hundreds marched from the Congress to the Brazilian embassy, where Zelaya has been holed up since Sept. 21, in a protest in the capital on Friday.
Zelaya said last week’s crisis deal was no longer valid after de facto leader Roberto Micheletti formed a new “national unity” government without his participation.
“The accord now has no value,” Zelaya said on Friday.
Zelaya said there was no point continuing with negotiations because “the agreements have been constantly violated.”
He also said that he had to “take some decisions,” without elaborating. He said he had not decided whether he would stay in the Brazilian embassy until his term runs out on Jan. 27.
The latest setback dealt a blow to foreign and US diplomats, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who had hailed last week’s agreement as a triumph for democracy.
“We urge both sides to act in the best interests of the Honduran people and return to the table immediately to reach agreement on the formation of a unity government,” State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said in Washington.
“We’re disappointed that both sides are not following the very clear path laid out” in Costa Rican accords aimed at resolving the crisis, Kelly said.
The accord had given Zelaya and Micheletti’s camps until midnight Thursday to set up a reconciliation government to represent both sides.
Although it did not require that Zelaya be reinstated, the pact said that decision should be left to Congress, without setting a deadline for the vote, which has not yet taken place.
Shortly before midnight, Micheletti announced a unity government without including Zelaya ministers.
The ousted leader had refused to present nominees for the posts unless he was first reinstated to “reverse the coup” of June 28.
Zelaya reiterated Friday that he would not back this month’s presidential polls.
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