A local governor in Namibia said Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt told him they
will have their baby in his country and are considering giving the child a
Namibian name, a newspaper reported Sunday.
Brad Pitt, left, walks
with Angelina Jolie at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in
this Jan. 26, 2006 file photo. A local governor in Namibia said Angelina
Jolie and Brad Pitt told him they will have their baby in his country and
are considering giving it a Namibian name, a newspaper reported Sunday
April 16, 2006. Samuel Sheefeni Nuuyoma, the governor of the Namibian
province where the couple is staying at a heavily guarded lodge, said he
met with the two stars on Friday, according to The Sunday Times of South
Africa. [AP] |
Samuel Sheefeni Nuuyoma, the governor of the Namibian province where the
couple is staying at a heavily guarded lodge, said he had breakfast Friday with
the two stars, according to The Sunday Times of South Africa.
He said Jolie had made those choices because "she loves Namibia."
Namibian immigration officials confirmed earlier this month that the couple
and five other people, including two children, arrived in Walvis Bay on a
chartered jet from Paris, prompting speculation their baby will be born in
Africa.
The couple has been shielded from reporters by heavy security at a secluded
beach resort near Walvis Bay, in an area where Naimbia's desert sand dunes
descend spectacularly to the sea.
But the Sunday Times carried what it billed as "exclusive" pictures of Jolie
hugging 1-year-old Zahara and Pitt carrying sleeping Maddox, 4, to a sports
utility vehicle. Both Pitt and Maddox sported matching haircuts.
It also had a photograph of a security official chasing a photographer along
the beach.
The newspaper also said Pitt had managed to evade paparazzi and go riding on
an all-terrain vehicle in the Namibian desert and the couple and the two
children have visited various game reserves and wildlife foundations.
Nuuyoma said he wanted his guests to feel "at home and free."
"Namibia is a country where everyone has the right to freedom of movement,
and they must not feel inhibited when they visit this beautiful country of
ours," he was quoted as saying by the Sunday Times.
Nuuyoma could not immediately be reached for more comment.
The Namibian government, anxious to keep its high-spending visitors, has
warned journalists entering the country without a valid work permit that they
risk arrest.
Pitt's publicist, Cindy Guagenti, said on Jan. 11 that Jolie, 30, is pregnant
with the actor's child. It was unclear when the baby will be born.
A judge in California since granted a request to change the names of Jolie's
two children to Zahara Marley Jolie-Pitt and Maddox Chivan Jolie-Pitt to reflect
that Pitt intends to become their adoptive father.
Pitt, 42, and Jolie, who co-starred in the 2005 film "Mr. & Mrs. Smith,"
have rented all 14 rooms and suites at the Burning Shores resort, a luxury
boutique hotel on Long Beach north of Walvis Bay.
The actress has traveled to Africa frequently to shoot films and as a
goodwill ambassador for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. She spent
several weeks in Namibia in 2002 while shooting the film "Beyond Borders."
Jolie has called the continent one of hope and possibility, and she adopted
her daughter, Zahara, from Ethiopia last year, accompanied by Pitt. She adopted
Maddox in 2002 in Cambodia, where she filmed "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider."
Pitt and Jennifer Aniston divorced last fall.
Jolie, who won an Oscar for her supporting role in 1999's "Girl,
Interrupted," is divorced from Billy Bob Thornton and Jonny Lee Miller.
Namibia, a country half the size of Alaska, is rich in diamonds and strategic
metals and home to 1.8 million people. It gained independence from neighboring
South Africa in 1990 after a 23-year war and has since been ruled by a
democratically elected government.
Namibia suffers from deep poverty and perennial food shortages but is a
popular destination for South Africans for its brilliant scenery and teeming
wildlife.