JAKARTA (Reuters) - Thousands of Moslems rallied in Jakarta on Friday to condemn communal bloodshed in Ambon that has killed more than 200, with hundreds signing up to rush to the island to join a holy war against Christians. But United States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright pleaded for peace and senior Moslem figures rejected a Jihad (holy war) and assured the United States that predominantly Moslem Indonesia would never be a Moslem state. More than 5,000 Moslems, mainly university students, gathered in a field next to the historic Al Azhar mosque after noon prayers. They chanted "God is Great!" and "Jihad!" as speakers accused Christians of a vendetta against Moslems. There were smaller rallies elsewhere in the capital, but there was no trouble. Hundreds signed up for a scheme to send Moslems to Ambon to help defend fellow Moslems against Christians. More than 200 people have died this year in fighting in Ambon between mainly Christian Ambonese and Moslem migrants from elsewhere in the archipelago. The Ambon violence is the latest in a wave to batter the country in the past year as ethnic, religious and social tensions, fuelled by spiralling poverty, boil over amid the worst economic and political crisis in decades. Leading Moslem politician Abdurrahman Wahid told Reuters those calling for a Jihad represented a minority of Moslems in the world`s largest Moslem nation. Wahid, together with opposition politician and former leader of the second-largest Moslem group Amien Rais, assured Albright in separate meetings that Indonesia would not officially become an Islamic state if Moslem parties win the June 7 election. Indonesia`s 125 million voters will elect a new 500-seat parliament in the country`s first taste of democracy in 40 years. Pressed by a wave of large pro-democracy protests, Habibie agreed to bring the election forward from 2002 and to implement wide-ranging reforms, including ending the three-party system dictated by disgraced former president Suharto.