JAKARTA, Indonesia - Indonesian authorities replaced a provincial police chief following a week of sectarian violence and announced plans Tuesday to charge relatives of a Christian separatist leader with treason.

Brig. Gen. Bambang Sutrisno was removed as police commander in Maluku province for his poor handling of a riot in Ambon, said national police spokesman Maj. Gen. Paiman. The unrest left 37 dead and more than a hundred homes and churches in ruins.

Brig. Gen. Aditya Warman has been installed in his place, Paiman said.

Paiman also said the wife and daughter of Alex Manuputty, the exiled leader of the banned, mainly Christian Maluku Sovereignty Front, will be charged with treason.

Both were arrested over the weekend.

Inter-communal clashes erupted on April 25 after several members of Manuputty's small movement rallied in the capital of Ambon calling for an independent homeland known as the South Maluku Republic. Muslims, who view such public displays as a provocation, assaulted the demonstrators, touching off clashes between gangs of Muslim and Christian youths.

The string of shootings, bomb blasts and arson sparked fears that the region could plunge back into Muslim-Christian battles like those that killed up to 9,000 people three years ago.

About 80 percent of Indonesia's 210 million people are Muslims, but South Maluku's 2 million inhabitants are evenly divided between Islam and Christianity.

The violence in Ambon has largely subsided following the arrival of hundreds of police reinforcements.