Zelaya plans to address the assembly that serves as a forum for world debate at 11 a.m. (1500 GMT), said Enrique Yeves, a spokesman for Assembly President Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann.

D'Escoto invited Zelaya to make the address at U.N. headquarters. Yeves also said Honduran diplomats may propose a resolution expressing support for Zelaya as the democratically elected president.

President Barack Obama on Monday declared that the United States still considers Zelaya to be the president of Honduras and described the military coup that forced him into exile as "not legal."

Leaders from across the Western Hemisphere and beyond have called for the return to power of Zelaya, who was arrested on Sunday morning by soldiers who stormed his residence and forced him into exile in Costa Rica.

The Central American nation now has another president appointed by its Congress, Roberto Micheletti, who insisted that Zelaya was legally removed by the courts and Congress for violating Honduras' constitution and attempting to extend his own rule.

D'Escoto, a leftist Nicaraguan priest and former foreign minister, urged the assembly on Monday to denounce the perpetrators of the military coup.

He said he had sent a written invitation to Zelaya offering him a chance to report directly on the situation in his country.

D'Escoto, who has used the yearlong post to address political issues more often the preserve of the U.N. Security Council, said he called a special session of the assembly to consider ways "to ensure the peaceful restoration of the legitimate government of president Zelaya in the hours and days ahead."

It is exceedingly rare for the General Assembly to hold a special session on a military coup in a member state, and Yeves suggested the special session would be used to produce not just speeches but a resolution. Only the Security Council can adopt legally binding resolutions, but a General Assembly resolution would at least reflect the views of the world body.

D'Escoto called Zelaya's ouster a "criminal military coup" and an "outrageous attack on Honduran democracy." The Honduran constitution limits presidents to a single 4-year term.

It was Central America's first coup in at least 16 years, a blow that reminded many of the military dictatorships the region has tried to bury in its past.

Honduras' U.N. Ambassador Jorge Reina Idiaquez told the General Assembly he was representing Zelaya, "the legitimate president of Honduras," at this "tragic moment ... but we are certain it will be a transitory one and that our democratic order will emerge strengthened."

U.S. deputy ambassador Rosemary DiCarlo said the United States joined other members of the Organization of American States in condemning the coup, "arbitrary detention, and expulsion of president Zelaya." The OAS is demanding Zelaya's "unconditional return" to the presidency and will not recognize any other government, she said.

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Associated Press Writer Morgan Dinsdale contributed to this report.