US urges flexibility in efforts for Honduras deal

Talks between representatives of the interim government and of ousted President Manuel Zelaya have broken over a key point — whether Zelaya will be reinstated — with a previously scheduled election looming in November.

Tom Shannon, U.S. assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Affairs, led the U.S. delegation, which includes his department's No. 2, Craig Kelly, and Dan Restrepo, President Barack Obama's point man on Latin America to the National Security Council.

The delegation arrived in Honduras on Wednesday and met with Zelaya at the Brazilian Embassy, where he has been holed up since sneaking back into the country on Sept. 21. It met later with interim President Roberto Micheletti, as well as with negotiators for both sides.

After the meeting, Zelaya said the U.S. officials "have not changed their position" in opposing his ouster. "Shannon expressed his desire for an agreement as soon as possible ... on my reinstatement."

The U.S. officials did not speak to the news media either before or after the meetings.

But U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters in Washington that the diplomats' mission was to urge "both sides to show flexibility and redouble their efforts to bring this crisis to an end."