By CLARE NULLIS
Associated Press Writer
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) -- 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.
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.
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