The World - News from July 26, 1988

South Africa, shut off from the international arms market for 11 years, is giving top priority to building its own jet fighter, Pretoria’s air force chief said. Gen. Jan Van Loggerenberg predicted that South Africa could build a jet fighter in eight to 10 years but did not say whether work on the project had begun. Van Loggerenberg spoke at a news conference in Pretoria that was closed to foreign journalists, but excerpts were carried on state-run television. South Africa has been denied access to the world arms market since 1977, when the United Nations imposed a mandatory arms embargo in an effort to force Pretoria to give up control of Namibia.