Jakarta – The Catholic church in Indonesia's embattled Maluku islands has appealed to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan for foreign troops to help contain the bloody two-year conflict between Muslims and Christians there.

With some 5,000 dead, half a million refugees and no end in sight to the fighting since it broke out in January of 1999, the bishop of Ambon, Monseigneur Mandagi called on Annan for help.

"The most urgent actual need, which should have priority, is: the presence of international security forces, international and independent survey and investigation teams to restore law and respect for human rights," said the appeal, a copy of which was received by AFP in Jakarta on Saturday.

"Most of the victims are just simple people, who are poor and defenseless, innocent and blameless," the bishop said in the Christmas "SOS", adding that torture, rape, persecution and destruction of property was widespread.

"Only recently became widely known the fact of immense and dramatic Islamisation of Christians, both by brutal force and by leaving them no choice," he said. "These people urgently need to be freed and evacuated."

The bishop listed several islands in the Malukus – including Kasui, Teor, Buru and Ceram – in which the alleged forced conversions of both Protestants and Catholics had taken place and put the figure at more than 600.

Last week the governor of the Malukus, Saleh Latuconsina, admitted after receiving reports from a joint Muslim-Christian investigating team, that the forced conversions had taken place, but gave no figures.

The claims have been denied by the extremist Muslim Laskar Jihad (Holy War warriors) which has sent thousands of fighters from other Indonesian islands to the Malukus to strengthen the Muslim side of the conflict.

Saying the Indonesian government had proved itself incapable of stopping the bloodshed, the bishop said: "In all sincerity we appeal to the international community to assist the Indonesian Government in ending the conflict in the Moluccas." Earlier this week the International Consultative Group (ICG) issued a report saying that although it felt the conflict would worsen in the coming year, foreign military intervention would not help end it.

The ICG predicted higher death tolls in coming months, and called the conflict a "campaign of religious cleansing" in which the Indonesian government was ineffective.

But the organization, which describes itself as a private, multinational research organisation producing regular analytical reports aimed at key international decision takers, said foreign military intervention would be counter-productive, and "could easily lead to further destabilisation in Indonesia, and should not be sought."

However it recommended the placement of foreign observers, preferably from Indonesia's neighbours, in the islands and said foreign governments should impose or continue arms embargoes on Indonesia. Observers could be helpful in "creating confidence in Indonesian military and police neutrality," the report stated.

Lying to the north-east of Java, the island provinces of Maluku and North Maluku were once famed as the Spice Islands, for the nutmeg and cloves which attracted traders from across the world, including early European explorers. Some of the islands' cities, including the capital Ambon, are now in virtual ruins and dotted with segregated refugee camps.