The deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya on Tuesday vowed to return to the country despite an arrest threat that could put him in jail for 20 years.

Zelaya has won wide international supports, and he will make a high-profile comeback flanked by the president of the UN General Assembly, the secretary-general of the Organization of American States (OAS) and presidents of Argentina and Ecuador on a flight to Honduras on Thursday.

ARREST WARRANT

Attorney General Luis Alberto Rubi said Zelaya would be arrested "as soon as he sets foot on Honduran soil" and he could face 20 years in prison.

Rubi said Zelaya's arrest warrant include 18 separate crimes such as abuse of power and treason.

"If Zelaya loves Honduras he should not come," said the coup-installed president Roberto Micheletti in a Tuesday interview with local radio station HRN.

"There is nothing to negotiate, there is a new government in power that he should respect," Micheletti said, adding that Zelaya has tried to negotiate his return to power with a high-ranking military official.

INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT

The UN General Assembly on Tuesday adopted a resolution condemning the military coup in Honduras and demand an immediate restoration of Zelaya's government.

The resolution, adopted by acclamation, called upon all the 192 UN member states not to recognize the military regime that took power by force, and not to recognize any government other than Zelaya's.

Zelaya, invited to speak at the General Assembly, took the floor after the resolution was adopted, saying that "the resolution is historic."

"I'm going back to calm people down. I'm going to try to open a dialogue and put things in order," Zelaya said.

Zelaya has received overwhelming support from its neighbors and regional and world organizations. Many of its close neighbors have halted cross-border trade with the Micheletti regime. The World Bank and the Central American Bank for Economic Integration have suspended endorsing new loans to Micheletti's government.

　　NO PEACE YET

In Honduras, demonstrations continued for and against Zelaya. Tegucigalpa's central park saw a rally by representatives of the church and big businesses, and politicians including Martha Lorena Casco, Micheletti's new deputy foreign minister.

"We are doing this so the world sees the other side of the coin," she told the crowd.

Demonstrations in favor of Zelaya were organized in Ocotepeque, a western province that borders El Salvador and Guatemala and in Colon province and San Pedro Sula city, both in the country's north.

Two people died on Monday in separate demonstrations against the Micheletti government. The post-coup authority has decided on Tuesday to extend the curfew for 72 hours on top of that on Sunday and Monday nights.

Source: Xinhua