Zelaya can remain in embassy as long as wants-Lula
25 Sep 2009 21:18:49 GMT Source: Reuters
(Adds quotes, background) PITTSBURGH, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya can stay as long as he likes in Brazil's embassy in the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Friday. Zelaya, who was forced into exile in June, sneaked home on Monday and sought refuge in the embassy to avoid arrest as he campaigns for his return to power. "He will stay there as long as it is necessary to (ensure) his safety," Lula told reporters at the end of a summit in Pittsburgh of the Group of 20 major rich and emerging nations. Zelaya said on Friday that tentative talks to end a three-month political crisis would go nowhere unless the de facto leaders who toppled him in a coup restored him to power. De facto government leader Roberto Micheletti, who has resisted all international demands that he allow Zelaya to return to office, hopes to cling to power until a new president is elected in November and takes office in January. "The only way to restore normalcy in Honduras is for Zelaya to call elections, not the coup leaders," said Lula. (Reporting by Walter Brandimarte; writing by David Ljunggren, editing by Frances Kerry)
Supporters of Honduras' ousted President Manuel Zelaya take part in a protest near Brazil's embassy in Tegucigalpa September 25, 2009. The U.N. Security Council condemned on Friday "acts of intimidation" at ...
