June 30 (Bloomberg) -- The United Nations called for the reinstatement of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, ousted two days ago in a military coup, as thousands of his opponents marched in the capital in support of his would-be successor.

The UN General Assembly approved by acclamation a resolution, co-sponsored by the U.S., asking that Zelaya be returned to office and calling on member nations not to recognize his removal as legal.

Afterward, in a speech from the General Assembly podium, the deposed leader, an ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, said he was being illegally targeted by Honduran elites who feared he was seeking to end the country’s “system of privileges.” He also recounted his removal to Costa Rica by the military, at gunpoint while still in his pajamas.

“I still had my mobile phone in my hand and I tried to call people to relate what was going on with more than eight rifles pointed at me,” he said. “I said, ‘If you have been ordered to shoot me, do it. Don’t make me suffer anymore.’”

In the capital Tegucigalpa, thousands of supporters of Zelaya’s replacement, Roberto Micheletti, marched peacefully to demand the world recognize his authority two days after he was named interim president by congress. So far, none has. Some carried signs saying Zelaya’s claims to electoral legitimacy were no better than Adolf Hitler’s.

‘Committed Crimes’

“We may not all support the way Zelaya was removed, but we can agree that he committed crimes,” said Mauricio Villeda Jr., 31, a lawyer who participated in today’s rally. “He was playing with the feelings of the Honduran people.”

The Organization of American States is holding an emergency session today in Washington in a bid to diffuse the crisis, two days after its 34 members, including the U.S., voted to condemn the coup and call for Zelaya’s “immediate, safe and unconditional return.”

“There’s full consensus about what happened and how to remedy it,” Peter Hakim, president of the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based policy group, said in a phone interview. “If the OAS can’t get its Democratic Charter to work under these circumstances, than it never can.”

Return to Honduras

OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza said yesterday he wanted to return to the Central American nation with Zelaya to demand his reinstatement. Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner will accompany the mission, Buenos Aires newspaper Infobae reported.

As protests against Zelaya swell, a showdown is imminent. Micheletti said that Zelaya faces arrest and 20 years in prison should he attempt to return to Honduras, Central America’s third-poorest country.

The country’s Supreme Court, congress and business groups have also expressed support for Zelaya’s removal, over concerns he was seeking to retain power beyond his original mandate by ignoring court rulings and changing the constitution through a referendum on term limits.

Approval for the Zelaya government fell to 30 percent in February from a high of 57 percent in January 2007, according to a nationwide poll by CID-Gallup. The former cattle rancher lost support over the past two years as he strengthened ties with Chavez, who has pressed his socialist agenda across Latin America.

Zelaya, who entered the UN General Assembly’s hall and sat in the section reserved for Honduras, said he would step down when his four-year term ends in January. That may clear the way for some sort of negotiated solution with the OAS, Hakim said.

“There’s some room for compromise, like moving up the elections,” said Hakim. “He can’t govern in any real sense anymore.”

‘Terrible Precedent’

U.S. President Barack Obama said yesterday that an unchallenged coup would set “a terrible precedent” at a time when democracy is helping the region move past an era of military rule in some countries. Zelaya’s removal “was not legal,” Obama said.

Obama’s spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said today that Zelaya may come to Washington to meet with State Department officials.

Honduras is important to the U.S. as a hub for about 600 American troops who work at a Honduran air base in a regional security effort that includes drug interdiction.

The World Bank suspended $80 million in aid to Honduras today, and the bank’s president, Robert Zoellick, said the political crisis “could be a setback for the larger issue of Central America integration.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Joshua Goodman in Rio de Janeiro jgoodman19@bloomberg.netAndres R. Martinez in Tegucigalpa at amartinez28@bloomberg.net;

Last Updated: June 30, 2009 18:34 EDT