/ 21 July 1997

Leaders support Kabila over massacre claims

DENEL SUES THREE PAPERS ARMS manufacturer Denel is suing the three Sunday newspapers in the Independent Group for an article revealing details of an R7-billion weapons export deal to an unnamed Middle East country. Denel had earlier attempted to stop publication with an urgent court interdict. Denel has not denied the deal, but objects to publication of “sensitive details”.

GORILLA ‘RECOVERING’ JOHANNESBURG zoo gorilla Max, shot three times by a fleeing burglar who tried to take refuge in his cage, was returned to his cage from the Milpark hospital at the weekend, still weak and unable to walk easily. Zoo officials expect him to have recovered by mid-week “when we will throw a big party for him”.

Meanwhile, the housebreaking suspect who shot the gorilla appeared in the Hillbrow Magistrate’s Court on Monday, where he was refused bail. He was discharged from the Garden City clinic at the weekend after being shot in the groin during his arrest. He has refused to give police his name, and is being held at the Parkview police station under the alias “Monkey Gorilla” until he is identified.