No assurance to Jakarta over journalists deaths: Australia

SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia Wednesday dismissed reports that it had assured the Indonesian government an inquest into the killing of five journalists in East Timor was nothing to worry about.

The inquest in Sydney has heard testimony from several witnesses who said they saw the journalists deliberately killed by Indonesian forces during an attack on the border town of Balibo on October 16, 1975.

But Indonesia's Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda has said Australia basically guaranteed his government there would be no fallout from the inquest, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.

His Australian counterpart Alexander Downer, however, told the national broadcaster that was not the case.

"I wouldn't put it in those terms, we had a very brief discussion about this quite some time ago," he said.

When pressed, Downer denied he had offered any such assurance.

Downer would not speculate whether the Australian government would take action against Indonesia if the coroner conducting the inquest recommended that charges be laid.

He said his department had provided documents to the inquiry but he was not personally involved.

"These are events of many years ago, and Hassan Wirayuda and President (Susilo Bambang) Yudoyono haven't had anything to do with it either," he said.

However, a top government lawyer said in his summing up to the inquest Wednesday that Indonesian Captain Mohammad Yunus Yosfiah, who is now a retired cabinet minister, had been involved in shooting the journalists.

And he named another Indonesian officer, Christoforus Da Silva, as having stabbed one of the men to death.

Officials maintain the so-called "Balibo Five" died in crossfire during a skirmish ahead of Indonesia's invasion of East Timor, but their families insist they were murdered and that there was a cover-up by Canberra and Jakarta.

The inquest was opened into the death of one of the men, TV cameraman Brian Peters, at the request of his sister.