Zelaya, successor reportedly to meet

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic - The leader of the Dominican Republic said yesterday that ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya would meet with his elected successor next week in this Caribbean nation.

There was no indication, however, that a deal for allowing such a meeting had been reached with the interim government that replaced Zelaya after a coup June 28.

Dominican President Leonel Fernandez said he expected Zelaya and President-elect Porfirio Lobo to meet Monday in Santo Domingo to discuss ways to resolve the political crisis that has gripped Honduras since Zelaya was deposed.

Fernandez said Zelaya would arrive tomorrow and Lobo on Monday. He said he expected to meet with them separately, then bring them together for discussions.

In Honduras' capital, information minister Rene Zepeda said the interim government had not received a petition from Zelaya or from Dominican officials asking that Zelaya be granted safe passage to leave the country.

Honduran officials and Zelaya have been at odds on terms of a deal that would let him emerge from the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa without fear of arrest on the treason and abuse-of-power charges that led to his ouster. He has taken refuge in the embassy since sneaking back into Honduras on Sept. 21.

The government insists he must concede he is no longer president, though his term runs to Jan. 27. Zelaya says he won't do that.