WINDHOEK, Nov 17, 2007 (AFP) - A former cabinet minister and senior stalwart of Nambia's ruling party, Hidipo Hamutenya, launched a new movement in Namibia Saturday, promising a different political vision and accelerated economic growth once in power.

Hamutenya resigned from the ruling South West Africa Peoples' Organisation (Swapo) and as a member of parliament last week. He joined the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) which was registered earlier this month by another former Swapo politician, Jesaya Nyamu.

TSUMKWE, Namibia, Oct 14, 2007 (AFP) - They roamed the savannahs and open plains for thousands of years, but the hunter-gatherer lifestyle of southern Africa's San tribes is slowly being squeezed towards extinction.

After clashing at the start of the last century with German settlers in modern-day Namibia and then being exploited by South Africa's apartheid regime in the 1980s, the San, also known as Bushmen, are now threatened by the 21st century curses of unemployment, poverty, alcohol abuse and HIV-AIDS.

TSUMKE, Namibia, Oct 14, 2007 (AFP) - They roamed the savannahs and open plains for thousands of years, but the hunter-gatherer lifestyle of southern Africa's San tribes is slowly being squeezed towards extinction.

After clashing at the start of the last century with German settlers in modern-day Namibia and then being exploited by South Africa's apartheid regime in the 1980s, the San, also known as Bushmen, are now threatened by the 21st century curses of unemployment, poverty, alcohol abuse and HIV-AIDS.

WINDHOEK, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - Namibia has deported two US citizens, declaring them 'prohibited immigrants' for recruiting former war veterans to work as security guards at US military bases in Iraq, officials said Friday.

'On a directive of the cabinet, the State Security Committee ... recommended the closure of the Special Operations Consulting-Security Management Group (SOC-SMG),' Information Minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah told a media briefing.

GABORONE, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - President of Botswana Festus Mogae hosted his counterparts from South Africa and Namibia at the opening on Friday of a new border crossing to allow for easier movement between the three countries.

The Mata-Mata Tourist Access Facility border crossing is situated in a desert area where the borders of western Botswana, northern South Africa and eastern Namibia lead to the the giant transfrontier wildlife park of Kgalagadi (formerly Kalahari).

WINDHOEK, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - New limits on catches of the endangered Patagonian toothfish, regarded as a culinary delicacy in Japan, have been imposed by a Namibia-based regional fishing organisation.

Hashali Hamukuaya, executive of the South East Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (SEAFO), said its scientific committee had recommended the limit on the fish whose numbers are declining at an alarming rate.

GABORONE, Oct 8, 2007 (AFP) - Botswana President Festus Mogae will host his counterparts from South Africa and Namibia this week for the opening of a border crossing at a trans-frontier wildlife park, the government said Monday.

South Africa's Thabo Mbeki and Namibia's Hifikepunye Pohamba will be the main guests of honour at the opening of the Mata Tourist Access Facility, located within the giant Kgalagadi park, the tourism ministry said.

OMARURU, Namibia, Oct 7, 2007 (AFP) - Descendants of a German general who tried to wipe out a Namibian tribe a century ago expressed their shame and offered apologies for his actions at a reconciliation meeting on Sunday.

'We, the von Trotha family, are deeply ashamed of the terrible events that took place 100 years ago. Human rights were grossly abused that time,' said family patriarch Wolf-Thilo von Trotha as he addressed members of the Herero tribe in central Namibia.

WINDHOEK, Oct 4, 2007 (AFP) - Ancestors of a German general who was behind the death of thousands of tribal people a century ago have been given police protection after a reconciliation mission to Namibia reopened old wounds.

Eleven members of the von Trotha family arrived in the southwestern African nation on Tuesday, 103 years after General Lothar von Trotha issued an extermination order against the Herero tribe for starting an uprising against German rule.

WINDHOEK, Oct 2, 2007 (AFP) - Sam Nujoma, the first president of post-apartheid Namibia is to step down from the leadership of the ruling SWAPO party at the age of 78, after 47 years in the post.

Nujoma had informed the party politburo he would be stepping down in November, said a statement released by his office Tuesday.

He wanted Hifikepunye Pohamba, the current president of Namibia, to be the next SWAPO president, the statement added.

Nujoma served as president of Namibia from 1990 to 2005, and is considered the father of the country's liberation struggle.

WINDHOEK, Aug 13, 2007 (AFP) - A court in Namibian on Monday postponed until November an extradition hearing for a US-Israeli businessman, Jacob 'Kobi' Alexander, who is facing multiple fraud charges in the United States.

Alexander is wanted by the US government on 35 fraud charges allegedly committed when he was chief executive of software company Comverse Technology in New York.

WINDHOEK, Aug 9, 2007 (AFP) - Namibia's president dismissed Thursday as 'frivolous' a submission to the UN-backed International Criminal Court to probe his predecessor Sam Nujoma over the disappearance of thousands of people.

President Hifikepunye Pohamba, who succeeded Nujoma in 2005, said the 'baseless, frivolous actions on the founding president are ill-advised and a threat to the peace and stability in our country.'

WINDHOEK, Aug 9, 2007 (AFP) - Namibia's sole human rights body on Thursday condemned long prison terms a Windhoek court imposed on 10 men convicted of treason, saying their right to legal representation had been violated.

The high court on Wednesday sentenced the 10 in their absence to between 30 and 32 years in jail for an unsuccessful secessionist attempt in the north-eastern Caprivi region eight years ago.

It was the first high treason trial since Namibia's independence in 1990.

WINDHOEK, Aug 6, 2007 (AFP) - A Namibian court on Monday relaxed bail conditions for a US-Israeli businessman wanted for fraud in the United States by lifting a restriction on domestic travel.

Kobi Alexander, who holds US and Israeli citizenship, arrived in Namibia a year ago and was arrested last September at the request of Washington.

He was later released after paying 10 million Namibian dollars (1.4 million US dollars, 1 million euros) bail but was banned from travelling outside the capital of Windhoek.

WINDHOEK, Aug 2, 2007 (AFP) - Namibia's ruling party on Thursday criticised a human rights body for filing a request with a UN tribunal to probe founding president Sam Nujoma over the disappearance of thousands of people.

WINDHOEK, July 31, 2007 (AFP) - A Namibian human rights group said Tuesday it had filed a request with the International Criminal Court to investigate the country's founding president over the disappearance of thousands of people.

In its submission to the International Criminal Court (ICC), the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) accuses Sam Nujoma of gross human rights violations as well as responsibility for the disappearance of some 4,200 people during his country's struggle for independence.