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US does 'about-turn' over Honduras
 As presidential elections draw closer in Honduras, the deposed president has blamed the US for changing its course towards the country's political crisis. Manuel Zelaya said on Thursday that US officials "have suddenly declared they are going to wait for the elections because they changed their position midstream." Washington sent Craig Kelly, deputy assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere, for the presidential poll. Kelly is to push for "a free and fair election and the seating of a new government in Honduras," according to the US State Department. The de facto government has announced that it would welcome the new US bid. This is while another US-brokered agreement formulated to end the crisis failed last week when the Honduran Congress refused to vote to reinstate Zelaya. Zelaya declared the deal a failure when Micheletti announced the creation of a national unity government even though Zelaya had not proposed any candidates. "The United States weakened in the face of the dictator," Zelaya told Radio Globo, referring to de facto leader Roberto Micheletti. Zelaya, a leftist president who was ousted after a The US initially announced that it would not recognize the vote if Zelaya were not reinstated first. However, after brokering the pact, US diplomats indicated Washington would support the elections. Posted by: Fred 2009-11-14 |
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