Zelaya has vowed to return after the military forced him into exile on June 28 [AFP]

Zelaya, who was forced from power on June 28 just hours before a disputed referendum was to be held, had vowed to return to Honduras on Sunday.

"I have ordered that he not be allowed back in, come what may," Enrique Ortez, the interim government's foreign minister, said.

"We cannot allow recklessness, that a president of the republic dies, that a president of the republic is wounded, that anyone dies."

Zelaya had said earlier he would be accompanied on his return by Cristina Fernandez and Rafael Correa, the presidents of Argentina and Ecuador respectively.

Speaking to reporters after he arrived in Washington DC on Saturday for the emergency session of the Organistaion of American States (OAS), Zelaya called on his supporters to prepare for his arrival.

"We are going to show up at the Honduras International Airport in Tegucigalpa ... and on Sunday we will be in Tegucigalpa," he said.

'Showdown'

Colin Harding, a Latin America analyst in London, said Zelaya was "hoping to force a showdown" by returning to Honduras.

"I think he wants to provoke the interim regime in Honduras into trying to arrest him. I think there is a certain sort of martyrdom attitude in the air," he said.

"It's possible that we've got brinkmanship here, which will lead to some sort of compromise, which may conceivably allow Zelaya to return at a later date, to bring forward the election date to save the face of both sides."

Oscar Andres Rodriguez, the highest ranking Catholic Church official in Honduras, had earlier urged Zelaya not to come back.

"We think that a return to the country at this time could unleash a bloodbath in the country," Rodgriguez said on national television.

"To this day, no Honduran has died. Please meditate because afterwards it would be too late."

Supporters

More than 10,000 Zelaya supporters gathered near the heavily guarded presidential palace on Saturday and pledged to be ready for his return.

The president was removed him from power as he was about to press ahead with a non-binding referendum that his domestic critics said was aimed at changing the constitution to enable him to run again for office.

The OAS, a hemispheric bloc dedicated to strengthening political co-operation and reforms, has suspended Honduras's membership over the coup.

"The suspension takes effect immediately," Jorge Taiana, the Argentine foreign minister, said on Saturday.

The move temporarily sidelines Honduras from any participation in the OAS, but obliges it to continue observing the body's rules in areas such as human rights.

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