The Provisional IRA has given the `Real IRA' a fortnight to disband otherwise "action will be taken" against members of the organisation and the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, according to dissident republican sources.
They said senior Provisionals visited the homes of around 60 individuals on Tuesday night. Two unmasked men visited each house and read a statement from the Army Council.
It demanded the `Real IRA' disband, the sources said, otherwise action would be taken against its members and against those who resigned from Sinn Fein last year. Provisional IRA figures refused to comment.
Homes were visited in south Armagh, Dundalk, Dublin, and other locations further south. The sources claimed that both leading members of the `Real IRA' and people involved only in the Sovereignty Movement were threatened.
The visits took place shortly after Mr Gerry Adams's statement that violence "must" be in the past. According to the dissidents, they were carefully co-ordinated with two men allocated a certain number of houses in each area.
All the threats were issued within 90 minutes. The Provisionals were not masked, the sources said. Some knew the dissidents personally. The Dundalk dissidents were visited mainly by northerners living in the town.
The sources said senior IRA members from Belfast travelled to south Armagh to threaten dissidents there.
One man threatened said: "The two men who called to my door said the `Real IRA' had no right to exist and accused it of misappropriating weapons.
"At other houses, members of the Sovereignty Movement were told they had no right to speak against the peace process. Some were simply warned `action' would be taken if they didn't make amends within a fortnight, others were told they would be shot.
"The men who called at some doors apologised and said they were only following orders. Others were more intimidating." It is understood members of the Sovereignty Movement in Co Tyrone were not threatened.
The Real IRA suspended its campaign after the Omagh bomb but has so far refused to call a permanent ceasefire. Dissident republicans met last night to discuss strategy. They are taking the threats very seriously.
Some believe the Provisionals intend carrying out their threats as not acting would make them look impotent. Others believe republican grassroots would not tolerate such action.
Unionists would use any attacks to have Sinn Fein expelled from the new Stormont administration, some sources believe. A Sovereignty Movement member claimed the threats violated the Mitchell principles of democracy and non-violence which Sinn Fein had signed up to and the two governments could not ignore the situation.
Some of those threatened have made affidavits to solicitors detailing the threats.