Namibian

South African-led troops killed nine black nationalist guerrillas in a series of skirmishes in Namibia during the past week, the territory force commander, Maj. Gen. George Meiring, said Friday.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are donating $2 million to the Namibian sanctuary where they spent Christmas with their kids. The donation to the Naankuse Lodge and Wildlife Sanctuary was made through the Jolie-Pitt Foundation in the name of their daughter Shiloh, who was born in Namibia. Dara Barrett, head of finance at the Naankuse sanctuary, told the Associated Press that the money would be used primarily to benefit the community of San bushmen on the farm and surrounding areas.

One man died and 18 people were injured Wednesday when a powerful bomb ripped through a butcher's shop in Windhoek, capital of South African-ruled Namibia, police said. The blast wrecked the Klein Windhoek Butchery in a suburb of the capital, scene of attacks in the past by nationalist guerrillas fighting for the independence of the former German colony.

Francina Tjonguze was pregnant with her 16th child when her husband died and his family tossed her out of their home. She accepted her fate quietly. She didn't shout or rail against the injustice of it but tried to accept her lot, afraid of making powerful enemies or bringing on the curses of evil spirits. But in her heart, she is still bitter about what was done to her in those lonely days of 1990, that mourning period when everything was taken.

Hundreds of Angolans are fleeing into neighboring Namibia to escape fighting between right-wing rebels and Angolan government troops, a Namibian government spokesman said. Up to 700 Angolans were reported to have entered northern Namibia, causing a major headache for U.N. officials, who are preparing to repatriate thousands of Namibians after years of exile. An international airlift of Namibian refugees starts today, the latest stage in the colony's U.N.-organized transition to independence from South Africa.

The U.N. peacekeepers had just stepped down from their trucks in remote bushland on the Namibian border here Tuesday when they had their first run-in with South African troops--over where to put up the blue-and-white U.N. flag. The South Africans had constructed a sturdy flagpole, next to their own flag, for the banner marking the opening of a U.N. assembly point for South-West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) rebels seeking refuge and safe passage back into Angola. But Australian army Sgt. Dave Sinai, of the U.N. contingent, was worried that the guerrillas would shy away if the U.N. flag were flying too close to the South African bunkers.

South African military intelligence detected a buildup of rebel forces across the Namibian border with Angola back in January. South Africans monitored guerrilla meetings, saw the arrival of fresh uniforms and heard talk of an invasion to "finally chase the Boers out." But when South African officials complained to the world, as they often do, few believed them. Just as South Africa had warned, though, the guerrilla buildup developed into a major cross-border incursion by the South-West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO)

Winds whipping off Antarctic Ocean currents are stopped cold here by the steep, apricot-colored dunes of one of the world's oldest deserts. The progeny is the Swakopmund fog, gripping a mostly uninhabitable stretch of African beachfront longer than the California coast. Such mischief from Mother Nature has made Namibia the continent's hidden, forgotten colony. Its raw landscape, flanked on the east and west by the Kalahari and Namib deserts, has been sealed off from most of the world for centuries.

Tens of thousands of Namibians took to the streets Wednesday in a riot of pomp, color and pageantry to celebrate their nation's independence. The world's newest nation, which became the 160th member of the United Nations, launched a massive street party to mark the end of colonial domination, first by imperial Germany and since 1915 by neighboring South Africa. President Sam Nujoma and his Cabinet were installed by U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar.

A 19-year-old model and part-time masseuse from the African nation of Namibia was named Miss Universe on Saturday. "I'm just the lucky one. My fellow contestants are just as beautiful," Michelle McLean told reporters. Miss Colombia, 21-year-old university student Paola Turbay, was first runner-up, and Miss India, 20-year-old model Madhushri Sapre, took third place. There were 78 contestants. McLean won $250,000 and a sports car.

Angolan government troops crossed the border into Namibia on Sunday and shelled rebel UNITA positions in Angola, witnesses said. Fighting in the region has intensified in recent days as Angolan forces try to increase the pressure on the UNITA rebel movement, whose troops are hiding out in dense bush in the far southeast of Angola.

A 19-year-old model and part-time masseuse from the African nation of Namibia was named Miss Universe on Saturday. "I'm just the lucky one. My fellow contestants are just as beautiful," Michelle McLean told reporters. Miss Colombia, 21-year-old university student Paola Turbay, was first runner-up, and Miss India, 20-year-old model Madhushri Sapre, took third place. There were 78 contestants. McLean won $250,000 and a sports car.

When South African police near Johannesburg opened fire on Monday on a gathering of tens of thousands of blacks, killing eight people and wounding hundreds of others, the government's violence took most of the American public by surprise. We had been lulled into thinking that, after the release of Nelson Mandela, all was well in southern Africa.

Tens of thousands of Namibians took to the streets Wednesday in a riot of pomp, color and pageantry to celebrate their nation's independence. The world's newest nation, which became the 160th member of the United Nations, launched a massive street party to mark the end of colonial domination, first by imperial Germany and since 1915 by neighboring South Africa. President Sam Nujoma and his Cabinet were installed by U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar.

For 23 years, the guerrillas of the South-West Africa People's Organization fought a bush war to wrest control of Namibia from South African colonizers and plant the principles of Karl Marx deeply in the sandy soil of the sparsely populated territory. But today, as SWAPO sits on the verge of realizing its dream in Namibia's first free and democratic elections, the rhetoric of war has given way to the practicalities of politics.

A black tailor named Helmut Hamwaama awoke before dawn Tuesday, eager for his first glimpse of one-man, one-vote democracy. But when he arrived at his local polling station in this township, the line of like-minded men in work clothes and women carrying babies already stretched half a mile down the dusty road. After a six-hour wait, Hamwaama presented his registration card to U.N. officials.

A crocodile grabbed Postmaster Kobus Slabbert by the ankle and dragged him into the Zambezi River as the man was warning women and children about the perils of playing in the water, the South African Press Assn. reported Monday. Slabbert was presumed dead. Robert Britz, a friend of Slabbert's, said that three families were picnicking Sunday when Slabbert saw women and children playing in the shallow water about 25 yards away and went to warn them about the danger of crocodiles.

Conservation officials in Namibia believe they are beginning to stem a surge in the illicit ivory trade that followed the withdrawal of South African troops under a U.N.-sponsored independence plan. They scored their latest success Sept. 16 when police smashed a major international smuggling syndicate after months of investigation, arresting 25 suspects.

Hundreds of Angolans are fleeing into neighboring Namibia to escape fighting between right-wing rebels and Angolan government troops, a Namibian government spokesman said. Up to 700 Angolans were reported to have entered northern Namibia, causing a major headache for U.N. officials, who are preparing to repatriate thousands of Namibians after years of exile. An international airlift of Namibian refugees starts today, the latest stage in the colony's U.N.-organized transition to independence from South Africa.