US President George Bush's special adviser on Northern Ireland today urged Sinn Féin to drop its objections to the new Police Board.
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Mr Richard Haass
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Mr Richard Haass said it was in republicans' own interest to put forward representatives to serve on the board alongside the other main political parties - including the SDLP.
Following a meeting in London with Northern Ireland Secretary Dr John Reid, Mr Haass said Sinn Féin participation on the board would ease the conditions for further demilitarisation by the British government.
"I believe that Sinn Féin taking the decision to appoint people to the Police Board, to stop discouraging people from joining the new police service, is clearly something that would be in the interest of all the people of Northern Ireland," he said.
"That seems to me to go a long way towards creating a safer and more secure environment and that in turn will, I believe, make it easier for the British Government to take decisions to continue the normalisation of security."
Mr Haass will meet members of the new Northern Ireland Police Board during a round of talks with political leaders in the North later today.
He is to face the 19-member board in Belfast, which was set up to handle police reforms and hold the new Police Service of Northern Ireland accountable.
PA