As violence flares again between Muslims and Christians in Maluku and Central Sulawesi, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches is calling for "immediate intervention" by the government of Indonesia.

Setri Nyomi, the general secretary of the Alliance, has written to Megawati Sukarnoputri, the new president of Indonesia, urging her to do everything in her power "to stop this violence which takes the life of innocent people, both Christians and Muslims".

The most recent wave of violence started in the Maluku islands at the beginning of November. Hundreds of armed attackers raided and occupied Waimulang, a predominantly Christian village on Buru island, killing at least three residents. One of these, Petrus Tasane (70), is said to have been burned alive in the church. Another, Joel Hukunala, was shot and then hacked to pieces. At least 1,000 villagers fled to the jungle for safety after the attackers burned down 150 houses - almost the whole settlement.

Later in the month a spate of bombings and armed attacks in Ambon, the regional capital of Maluku, claimed at least eight lives.

At the end of the month, fighting shifted to the Poso region in Central Sulawesi. Six Christian villages were attacked, seven people were killed, and hundreds of houses were destroyed. Thousands fled to save their lives.

The Maluku islands have been ravaged by Muslim-Christian clashes since January 1999. The conflict, which began in Ambon and gradually moved right around the islands, has killed an estimated 5,000 and driven over half a million from their homes. Last year, the government declared a state of civil emergency.

Violence in Poso began in December 1999 and has killed an estimated 2,000 people.

In Indonesia as a whole, roughly 87 percent of the population is Muslim and 9 percent Christian, but in the eastern islands the two communities are more evenly balanced.

Traditionally, relations between the two communities were good. "Christians would contribute toward the building of mosques and Muslims would contribute toward the building of churches," recalls James Haire, a former Australian missionary. In recent decades, however, transmigration has exacerbated social and political tensions.

In Maluku the initial conflict involved Christian Ambonese and Muslims from nearby Sulawesi who had migrated to Maluku in large numbers during the previous thirty years, but it was soon transformed into a battle between the two whole communities. In May 2000, the Laskar Jihad, a Java-based Islamic militia, went to Maluku to wage a "jihad" against the Christians.

In Poso the fighting again took place in the context of large-scale Muslim migration to what was previously a mainly Christian region. As the local Christians fell behind economically and lost their political predominance, conflict broke out. UN sources say that up to 7,000 members of Laskar Jihad have now moved to Poso from Maluku.

In both settings, the security forces have proved either unable or unwilling to suppress violence and restore order. There are reports of links between the government forces and the militias on both Christian and Muslim sides and of a regular black market in military-issue weaponry in Ambon.

The National Commission on Human Rights and others have also pointed to evidence suggesting that much of the violence is fomented by political and military interests in Jakarta.

During November, Park Seong-Won, the Alliance staffer responsible for human rights work, paid a visit to Indonesia to see the situation on the ground. He met representatives of the Christian Church in Central Sulawesi (GKST) and the Protestant Church in the Moluccas (GPM) and other Christian and Muslim leaders.

He reports a widespread desire in both communities for reconciliation and peace. "Local people, both Muslim and Christian, are fed up and tired of the fighting, which will not bring anything to them but death." The biggest obstacle to peace moves is the hard-line armed groups on either side.

Suspicions are openly voiced that these militias are "infiltrated by outside architects of the conflict", Park says. Those he spoke to are unanimous in the belief that the government of Indonesia could stop the violence if it chose, but is not doing so. Many said that without pressure from the international community, the government would not act.

Towards the end of November, Christians in Ambon held three days of mourning, when thousands of people took part in prayers in churches, many houses and public buildings.

"These prayers are a display of concern about all the violence that has taken place during a relatively calm period," says Leo Lohy of the Protestant Church in the Moluccas. "In this way, we call on all people to assess themselves and put their fate completely in God's hands. This mourning period is also a moral movement to forge peace and unity."

In conversations with Christian and Muslim leaders in Ambon, Park urged them to launch a "spiritual process of reconciliation". This would be particularly appropriate in the Ramadan and Advent seasons, the purpose of which is self-reflection.

In his letter to the Indonesian president, Nyomi emphasizes that the Alliances's concern is unbiased.

"The position of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches is not to advocate human rights for Christians only. We advocate the human rights and spiritual rights of all people."