The coup-hit Honduras submerges further in crisis as talks fail to resolve the political stalemate, with the de facto government snubbing a Zelaya condition demanding reinstatement.

The ousted president Manuel Zelaya's aides announced on Friday that the talks are dead.

"As of now we see this phase as finished," Zelaya's envoy Mayra Mejia said, referring to the dialogue shortly after midnight, Reuters reported.

Setting a deadline for the coup leader Roberto Micheletti's team, Zelaya's camp conditioned the continuation of talks on the deposed president's return to power.

"The fundamental point is the reinstatement of President Zelaya and for this, there was no political will," Mejia told reporters in the lobby of the Tegucigalpa hotel, where both sides have been debating for three weeks.

Micheletti's interim regime has so far rejected Zelaya's return to power, extending a crisis that has pushed the poorest country in the region to the brink of disintegration.

Zelaya was removed from power in a June 28 bloodless coup by his own army, and was sent into exile.

He crossed discreetly into Honduras by land a month ago and sought refuge at the Brazilian embassy in the capital Tegucigalpa.

RB//MMN