Chilean president urges end to Honduras political stand-off

ASUNCION, July 23 (Xinhua) -- Visitng Chilean President Michelle Bachelet has expressed regret at the failure to find a way to return Honduras to constitutional order and urged the opposing parties to compromise.

Speaking in the Paraguayan capital Asuncion during a visit on Thursday, Bachelet urged ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya and post-coup leader Roberto Micheletti to make all possible efforts to find a peaceful solution and to avoid the risk of a bloodbath.

Bachelet, current president of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur), praised the efforts made by mediator Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, saying "he has worked tirelessly in accordance with the Organization of American States' (OAS) resolution on the issue to achieve a compromise to restore the democracy in Honduras."

According to Bachelet, the agreement proposed by Arias had the essential points and the necessary guarantees for both parties to reach a compromise.

On July 19, Arias, who won the 1987 Nobel Peace Prize for his role in ending the Central American civil wars, presented the "Accord of San Jose" to both Zelaya and the post-coup interim government of Roberto Micheletti as a final solution to the political crisis in Honduras, and set a 72-hour deadline for both camps to reach a deal.

Micheletti has refused to sign the accord and rejected Arias' second and final mediation plan, which included advancing the presidential elections and forming a government of national unity led by Zelaya till 2010.

Zelaya, who has been in exile since he was ousted in a military coup on June 28, announced Wednesday night he would make a second attempt to return to Honduras, saying that "because the interim government refused to sign the accord, the mediation efforts had failed."

Bachelet also requested the OAS to take extra measures to implement the resolutions of the Extraordinary General Assembly regarding the Honduras crisis.

"If this period (Arias' mediation) has failed, we think that now the OAS has to take all the additional measures to fulfill the aims of the approved resolutions by the General Assembly," Bachelet said.