Tough task ahead for peacemaker Arias in Honduran talks

Jul 8, 2009, 16:57 GMT

San Jose - It will be a challenge for Costa Rican President Oscar Arias to mediate discussions between two Honduran rivals on Thursday, with both willing to talk but reluctant to set aside their demands.

Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya and former Honduran Congress speaker Roberto Micheletti - the man designated to head the government after Zelaya was ousted in a military coup June 28 - were expected to arrive in Costa Rican capital San Jose Wednesday, ahead of formal talks with Arias Thursday.

Both have accepted Arias' offer to lead mediation efforts backed by the United States, but neither is ready to set aside individual demands.

'I am not going to negotiate. I am not going to betray my principles or those of my people,' Zelaya said Tuesday in Washington. 'There are things that are non-negotiable. For example, the restoration of the presidential system.'

For Zelaya, Arias' main task is planning 'the exit of the coup perpetrators from the country.'

Micheletti said in Honduran capital Tegucigalpa that he was willing to talk to Arias, who he said had 'an unblemished behaviour record and is a man of great credibility at the global level.'

'We have the greatest interest for there to be peace and calm in our country, that is our intention when we sit down to negotiate,' Micheletti said.

But he added that Zelaya's return to Honduras was non-negotiable 'unless it is to turn himself in to justice officials.' Micheletti has repeatedly said that Zelaya would be arrested as soon as he sets foot on Honduran territory.

Micheletti also reacted to the suggestion by the head of the Honduran Supreme Court that Zelaya - who is being charged with treason, abuse of authority and corruption - be granted amnesty by Congress.

'An amnesty can be political, but it cannot deal with legal issues or with crimes that were committed. That cannot be negotiated under any circumstance, with anybody,' Micheletti said.

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who met with Zelaya in Washington Tuesday, said Arias' role as current president of the Central American Association made him the 'natural person' to take on the mediating effort.

The Social Democrat Arias, 68, is serving a second stint as Costa Rican president, after a first term from 1986 to 1990. He received a Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for his effort to end the civil war in El Salvador.

Arias knows that his latest mediation task will not be easy. 'I do not know how long the meetings are going to last. However, experience tells us that you need to be patient to generate trust between the parties,' he said.