Jakarta – A team promoting reconciliation in the strife-torn Maluku islands has named four men suspected of stirring up sectarian violence, and linked former president Soeharto and ex- defence chief General Wiranto to the clashes.

The Jakarta Post yesterday quoted team member Tamrin Amal Tamagola as saying that the names of four people suspected of provoking Muslim-Christian violence in the Maluku islands, which has left more than 1,700 people dead and hundreds and thousands of refugees, have been handed to the Indonesian armed forces (TNI).

"I have told TNI chief of general affairs, Lieutenant-General Suaidy Marasabessy, that the provocateurs of the sectarian clashes are Buce Sarpara, Yorris Raweyai, the Sultan of Ternate and former Ambon mayor, Colonel Dicky Wattimena," said Mr Tomagola, a sociologist at the State University of Indonesia.

He said the four men had unlimited funds, which they had used to stir up trouble in the province. Mr Tomagola also aired suspicions that Mr Soeharto and several of his business cronies had provided funds to the provocateurs.

Mr Sarpara is a former chief of the land agency in Irian Jaya and Mr Raweyai was the deputy chief of a Soeharto-era youth organisation. He has also been a key figure in the independence drive in Irian Jaya.

Tomagola said General Wiranto, now co-ordinating minister for political and security affairs, was a key figure "to whom we can trace all connections in the conflict."

The Maluku reconciliation team was initiated by the Government late last year, and has military and human rights advocates among its members.