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Honduras' deposed president has made a brief return to his country from Nicaragua, nearly four weeks after he was forced from power in a military-backed coup. Manuel Zelaya walked from the Nicaraguan town of Los Manos to the frontier on Friday, and walked a few metres beyond a chain marking the border, before being blocked by Honduran army troops. Honduras' security forces had been instructed by the military-backed interim government to arrest Zelaya if he entered the country, but they did not move against him. After speaking to journalists, Zelaya then stepped back onto Nicaraguan soil, to await members of his family who are on the Honduran side of the border. Political crisis Mariana Sanchez, Al Jazeera's correspondent at the scene, said: "He stepped into Honduran territoty, but is this just a metaphor? The significant thing would be if he went all the way to Tegucigalpa, the capital. "Zelaya is showing his supporters that he is here, and that he is close to them. I think he will stay at the border for some time; his wife is coming to meet him and it is very difficult to get through the checkpoints to the border." The deposed president's brief return to Honduras comes after mediated crisis talks aimed at reaching a negotiated settlement between Zelaya and the interim government failed. An attempt on July 5 by Zelaya to return to Honduras by air failed when the interim government instructed the military to block the runway to the airport in Tegucigalpa. Zelaya was forced into exile by the military as he was about to press ahead with a non-binding referendum that critics said was aimed at changing the constitution to enable him to run again for office. Zelaya had said that changes to the charter were necessary to improve the lives of the poor. |
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