By John McPhaul and Ana Isabel Martinez
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (Reuters) - Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya agreed on Saturday to give his enemies a share of power if he is allowed to return to office, but they rejected any deal that puts him back in the presidency.
Zelaya, who was toppled in a military coup on June 28 and is in exile in neighbouring Nicaragua, backed the proposal for a government of national reconciliation put forward by the mediator in talks aimed at ending Honduras' political crisis.
Zelaya also said in an interview with a Honduran radio station that he would return to Honduras in the coming days despite warnings by the de facto government that he would be arrested.
Costa Rica's Nobel Peace Prize-winning president, Oscar Arias, is trying to broker a compromise deal between Zelaya and interim president Roberto Micheletti, the former speaker of Congress who replaced him in a June 28 military coup.
A new round of talks opened in Costa Rica on Saturday with Arias laying out seven points for discussion, including Zelaya's return to power to complete his term ending in January 2010 and the formation of a coalition government with all the country's political parties represented.
Arias also proposed an amnesty for any political crimes committed after the coup and that Zelaya abandon his plans to hold a referendum on extending presidential terms.
But a spokesman for Micheletti's interim government again insisted it will not allow Zelaya's return to power.
The Honduran army was on maximum alert and boosted its presence in Zelaya home region of Olancho, where about 100 of his supporters gathered on his ranch, and other places seen as possible points of return, an army source said.
The coup triggered the worst political crisis in Central America since the Cold War and poses a challenge for President Barack Obama as he tries to improve U.S. relations with Latin America.
Zelaya upset Honduras' business elite and moderates in his own Liberal party with his leftist policies and rhetoric after taking office in 2005, allying himself with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez.
The military ousted Zelaya and whisked him out of the country, accusing him of violating the constitution by trying to extend presidential term limits.
Zelaya vowed from exile in Nicaragua on Friday to return to Honduras "one way or another," regardless of the outcome of the negotiations. His wife Xiomara Castro told Reuters that Zelaya had set a Saturday deadline for a deal in the talks.
Zelaya protesters marched near the airport in the capital Tegucigalpa on Saturday.
(Additional reporting by Simon Gardner, Esteban Israel, Gustavo Palencia and Juana Casas in Tegucigalpa, and Ivan Castro in Managua; Writing by Louise Egan; Editing by Anthony Boadle)
