WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – Ousted Honduran President  Manuel Zelaya yesterday accepted a U.S.-backed effort by Costa  Rican President Oscar Arias to mediate an end to the political  crisis in Honduras and said talks with his rivals would begin  tomorrow.

“Our first meeting is set for Thursday, in Costa Rica,”  Zelaya, told Honduran radio from Washington.

In Honduras, Roberto Micheletti, who was appointed  president  by Honduran lawmakers after the June 28 coup, also said he  would  attend tomorrow’s talks under Arias’ mediation.

Arias, a Nobel Peace Prize winner with experience in  solving  Central American conflicts, faces mediating between sharply  opposed positions.

Zelaya said his reinstatement as president was  nonnegotiable.

“What this is is not a negotiation, this is the planning of  the exit of the coup leaders,” he said.

But Micheletti maintained his position that Zelaya could  not  return as president. “We’re not going to negotiate, we’re going  to  talk,” he said. “We’re going into these talks because we’re  interested in having peace and tranquillity in Honduras.”

Zelaya, whose ouster was sparked by his efforts to change  presidential term limits and by his political shift to the  left,  spoke after meeting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

She urged him to negotiate rather than try to force his way  back into the country.

Zelaya had tried to fly home on Sunday, but the interim  government stopped his plane from landing. At least one person  was killed when troops clashed with pro-Zelaya protesters who  went to the airport in the capital, Tegucigalpa, to meet him.

The coup in the impoverished Central American coffee and  textile exporter has been widely condemned abroad, and posed a  diplomatic challenge for U.S. President Barack Obama.

The Organization of American States took the rare step to  suspend Honduras on Saturday after Honduras’ interim  authorities defied its ultimatum to reinstate Zelaya. But the  group has failed to find a solution to the crisis.