Sinn Fein's chief negotiator Mr Martin McGuinness today rejected claims that mainstream republicans planned an intimidation campaign against Catholic members of a new community policing board in Northern Ireland.
Mr McGuinness said he did not believe the threats existed, and said "securocrats" - faceless security sources - were to blame.
He said: "Here we have a glimmer of hope, a prospect of progress, and here the securocrats are coming to spook the unionists again.
"Anybody that knows our contribution to this process knows that there is no prospect whatsoever of the republicans who support us engaging in any activity whatsoever which sees the intimidation of any citizens in the North.
"Everything that we have been about is to bring about a change to all of that, to end the intimidation that has been used on many occasions against ourselves, and to bring about political progress."
Nationalists were urged to step up personal security last night because of heightening fears for their safety.
The warning followed an emergency meeting in Cookstown, Co Tyrone, where one of the 26 District Policing Partnerships (DPP) set up to monitor police performance is based.
Members were told that police intelligence indicated "mainstream republicans" aligned to the Provisional IRA intend to intimidate all SDLP representatives and independents regarded as Catholic.
Nine out of the 15 members believe they are under threat. The alert came just days after a member in Fermanagh quit when he was threatened by dissident republicans.
PA