Honduras: Aid agencies close offices after ousted President's return

|PIC1|President Zelaya said he had come back to Honduras three months after being ousted in a military coup to "call for dialogue", according to Reuters.

He is taking refuge in the Brazilian embassy in the country’s capital, Tegucigalpa, where supporters have gathered to demonstrate and demand his return to office in spite of a round-the-clock curfew.

Among the aid agencies to have closed their offices is DanChurchAid. Country coordinator Katja Levin said it had taken the decision because “tense and insecure” situation in the capital.

The US and EU have called for calm amid fears of violence. In a statement, the EU called on Mr Zelaya and the interim government led by Roberto Micheletti to negotiate an end to the crisis.

Ms Levin suggested the crisis had awakened Hondurans to the possibility of constitutional changes towards a more democratic society.

“The positive aspects of the actual crisis are that a lot of Hondurans no longer passively are sitting and looking at corrupt politicians and an elite that is getting still richer,” she said.

“Now the Hondurans have grasped the opportunity and the courage to react and to think that a change is possible.”

DanChurchAid is a member of Action by Churches Together International, which condemned the coup.

Chief mediator, Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, has proposed that Zelaya return to office until he finishes his term next January and those who took part in the coup be granted amnesty.

General elections are due to be held on November 29, but Arias warned that they would have no credibility without Zelaya’s return to office, while the US said it would not recognise the results if they were held as things stand.