Mediators say Chiapas is ungovernable

Mediators in the conflict in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas have told the new Interior Minister, Francisco Labastida, that Chiapas has become ungovernable.

In the first apparently heated meeting between the mediating commission and the Minister, the mediators are said to have criticised Mr Labastida's recent comments favouring the disarming of the Zapatista rebel group.

But both parties agreed to discuss ways of reducing tension in the region, to allow the resumption of peace negotiation between the government and the Zapatistas.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service