SAN JOSE, Costa Rica, (Reuters) – The United States  and the Costa Rican mediator in Honduras’ political crisis  urged the rival sides yesterday to give talks a chance after  the ousted president threatened to abandon dialogue if he was  not reinstated quickly.

They were responding to a warning on Monday by deposed  Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, toppled in a June 28 coup,  that he would quit talks mediated by Costa Rican President  Oscar Arias unless Honduras’ interim rulers agreed to restore  him to office this weekend.

“All parties in the talks should give this process some  time. Don’t set any artificial deadlines,” U.S. State  Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters in Washington.
Arias, who won the 1987 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts  to help end Central American civil wars, has called a fresh  round of talks for Saturday between representatives of Zelaya  and envoys of interim Honduran President Roberto Micheletti.

But with both sides refusing to make concessions, Arias is  struggling to keep alive hopes for a quick negotiated solution  to Central America’s worst political crisis since the Cold War.  Two days of talks in Costa Rica last week between the rival  Honduran delegations failed to achieve any real progress.

Honduras, which exports bananas, coffee and textiles, has a  long history of coups, returning to democracy only in the 1980s  after 30 years of mainly military rule in the impoverished  Central American country.

Zelaya, bolstered by world condemnation of the coup,  insists his reinstatement is the only topic for any talks.
“The whole world … has said it will not recognize a  military government with civilian puppets,” he told reporters  in Guatemala yesterday after arriving for a visit.

But Micheletti’s interim government, installed by Honduras’  Congress after the coup, is adamant Zelaya cannot return to  power under any circumstances because it says he was trying to  illegally extend his rule by seeking to lift presidential term  limits. His removal was lawful, Micheletti says.