Tegucigalpa  - A foreign ministers' mission of the Organization of American States (OAS) left Honduras Thursday without making progress towards the reinstatement of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya.

In a statement read by Costa Rican Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno, the mission underlined the need for further dialogue between the parties and demanded respect for human rights.

Zelaya was sent into exile to Costa Rica after being toppled in a June 28 coup.

The OAS statement called for the restoration of "all institutional guarantees" as a basic condition for dialogue between Zelaya and the de facto government led by former Congress speaker Roberto Micheletti.

It further demanded that "President Zelaya be guaranteed living and working conditions in accordance with his high dignity."

The OAS delegation - which included OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza - met with Zelaya on Wednesday at the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa, where he took refuge on returning from exile on September 21.

The foreign ministers reiterated their backing to Zelaya, whom the international community wants to see reinstated as president, Zelaya aide Rassel Tome said.

The OAS delegation also met with Micheletti, who said the elections planned for November 29 would go ahead unless Honduras was "attacked" or "invaded."

"There is no other way to prevent the elections," Micheletti said.

Both the international community and Zelaya himself regard the elections as illegitimate even though they were scheduled before the coup. That's because the election campaign is taking place under undemocratic conditions.

Zelaya meanwhile issued a statement Wednesday demanding that he be reinstated as president by October 15 or he would not recognize the elections.

"I am a solution, I am not a problem," Zelaya told the radio station HRN.

The OAS delegation was hoping to launch talks between the representatives of Zelaya and the de-facto government. Insulza urged both parties to negotiate "without hidden intentions" and to look for "concrete solutions" to the crisis.

De facto Foreign Minister Carlos Lopez Contreras criticized the international community for having suspended an estimated 400 million dollars in aid to Honduras, saying the measure affected the poorest segment of the population.

Lopez Contreras also urged Brazil to disarm people who were guarding Zelaya at the embassy.

The OAS has called for a rapid solution to the crisis, given that the election date was drawing close, and the United States, which is an OAS member, has making the same point with separate comments.

Conditions for successful talks included improving Zelaya's living conditions inside the embassy, reopening media which supported him, and suspending violent protests, Insulza said.

In Washington, US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said that "time is running out" and that the US would not recognize the planned elections in the current circumstances.

The OAS delegation headed by Insulza included the foreign ministers of Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico and Panama.  dpa