U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffery Feltman has said that the U.S. rejects to send observers when Yemen holds the next parliamentary elections in 2011 if they will be allowed to attend only the election day.
Many mistakes may be associated with the electoral process and who can see them if observers are not allowed to do, he said.
Answering a question by the Al-Sahwa newspaper on his country's position over the elections, the U.S. official, who has arrived in the country carrying an Obama letter to Saleh, said that the U.S. sees that the elections should be fair.
Only the Yemeni people can decide what their country's future should be but not others, he said. Feltman also praised the ceasefire in the far north, saying Yemen's friends, partners and donors were afraid of the situation in Saada and they are satisfied now.
During the interview with the newspaper at the end of his visit to the country, Feltman touched on the situation in the south saying what is happening in southern cities is an internal matter of Yemen.
What the U.S. can do for Yemen is to encourage all Yemeni parties to resolve their problems within the national institutions and the national unity, he said.
The U.S. also urges to resolve the standing rights problems in the south fairly and quickly to boost Yemen's unity, he concluded.