Meles made the remark when he met with United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF) leaders at his office earlier this month. He ruled out a UEDF demand that the Electoral Commission be restructured anew.

He said dissolving the Electoral Commission was "non-negotiable," and added his government would help avoid any fraudulent activities during the elections by assigning president of the Supreme Court to oversee election activities.

Observers said adding the Supreme Court judge to the already state-controlled Electoral Commission was nothing but further tightening the government's grip on the election-monitoring body.

Meles also rejected a UEDF proposal of issuing certificates of authenticity to observers from the international community, which if accepted, would have included observers from Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. "My government fails to see the importance to issue certificates to international observers while resident members of the diplomatic community in Addis and members of national civic and religious organizations are free to do the job."

On armed opposition party members of UEDF, Meles warned that any armed opposition group must "renounce" violence in written statements, and get clearance from the Security Ministry before hopping up on the band-wagon of national elections. "Those who declared war on the government but have not carried out any attacks so far can go ahead and submit affidavits of giving up their 'armed struggle," and join the election process. "My government would be serious with the second group, those like the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and others who have been actively engaged in wars," Meles said. "It's the government's responsibility to make sure such groups are complying fully with security directives such as they have to submit evidences that they have condemned war, dissolved their army, and would hand over their arms to the government before they do anything like other legal opposition parties operating in the country."

The prime minister also addressed the issue of former members of Meison, and said they would be duly advised before they enter the country to make sure they have crime-free records, that they were not involved in the Red Terror campaign of the Derg in the late '70s.

On EPRP: "We see some EPRP individuals coming in and out of the country as they wish. The government would not be interested in taking measures against individual EPRP members."

During the one hour and 45-minute meeting with Meles, Dr. Beyene Petros, Prof. Merera Gudina, Dr. Admasu Gebeyehu and Ato Mulu Meja agreed to further their discussions in the future on topics surrounding the conduct of elections.

It is to be recalled that the ruling party had in the previous election used excessive force against members of the constituency who were campaigning for opposition. Meles said his party had taken disciplinary measures against EPRDF cadres who used violent means against those opposed to the ruling party, and said he was willing to work closely with UEDF on how to conduct the next election smoothly.