Unita rebels have abducted 16 children attending mass in a Roman Catholic church
in Angola's northern Kwanza Norte province.

Financial kickbacks and the awarding of commission could become punishable by law under a new anti-corruption bill.

The Namibian government says there is a need to co-operate with all law enforcement agencies, including "our friends the media" to report and expose corruption.

The Namibian cabinet this week instructed Health Minister Libertina Amathila to go ahead with the introduction of a pilot programme for Aids drugs.

Environment and Tourism Permanent Secretary Tangeni Erkana has resigned from his post in unclear circumstances.

Two areas in the Kunene region at Puros and Ehirovipuka have been earmarked by the government for conservation. Five percent of the country's land now falls under government conservation efforts.

Human rights monitors say two civilians were shot dead by a detachment of Special Field Force on a routine patrol along the Okavango River, some 130 km east of Rundu.

Namibia will introduce a land tax on commercial farmland to augment government's efforts in developing the neglected communal areas as well as to acquire more commercial land for resettlement purposes.

The Media Institute of Southern Africa said in a statement on Wednesday that it was "gravely concerned" about the restrictive provisions contained in the proposed Defence Bill. The Namibian government on Tuesday tabled a law aimed at limiting media coverage of security and defence issues.

Villagers in Namibia's Omauni area are to farm guinea fowl for commercial purposes, according to the Okongo Community Forest Project.

Hundreds of teachers face being kicked out of the civil service if they refuse to be redeployed to formerly disadvantaged schools as the Namibian government moves to bridge the teacher-pupil ratio.

One-hundred-and-thirty HIV-positive activists have declared their status publicly at a gathering in the border town of Rundu, insisting it is Aids, not the border war with Unita rebels, that is the real threat to their survival. IRIN filed the report.

The Council of Churches in Namibia (CCN) Secretary General Reverend Nangula Kathindi said on Wednesday that the council was prepared to "serve as a mediator with all segments of Namibian society to work together to heal the deep mental wounds resulting from torture".

In his keynote address, Mr. Abid Hussain, the UN Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression, congratulated UNESCO and MISA for organizing the Windhoek conference “Ten Years On: Assessment, Challenges and Prospects”. He emphasized the need for Africa to reinforce freedom of speech and freedom of the media, without which, no real development progress could be made.

The Ministry of Health and Social Services yesterday launched this year's National Immunisation Days of June 19 and 20 and July 24 and 25 countrywide, under the theme 'Let's Kick Polio Out Of Namibia'. The project, which is part of the global effort to eradicate polio was initiated in Namibia for the sixth consecutive year.

Women's Action for Development, which recently became a Namibian non-governmental organisation, has been supporting and facilitating the development of women in Namibia for a number of years. Mrs Veronica de Klerk, executive director, spoke in an interview, about where women were in Namibian society, where they are and where they are going.

Delegates attending a conference in Namibia on establishing a permanent war-crimes court told IRIN on Tuesday that regional support for the initiative was growing. "Southern African nations were a driving force toward getting the International Criminal Court (ICC) treaty on paper," said Joanne Lee, one of the conference organisers. The ICC would, once created, be able to prosecute individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

President Sam Nujoma has ordered a total ban on the purchase of The Namibian by the Government of the Republic of Namibia. This directive by the President has been issued hot on the heels of an earlier Cabinet decision to ban Government line ministries from advertising in the newspaper on grounds that it maintained an "anti-Government stance."

The Namibian Defence Force (NDF) said it participated in a joint operation with the Angolan army that "dislodged" UNITA rebels from Mavinga, a strategic town deep inside Angola, 'The Namibian' reported on Thursday. Army Chief Major-General Martin Shalli was quoted as saying that the joint-operation was carried out last week in southern Angola's Cuando Cubango Province, more than 200 km north of the Namibian border.

Namibia's prosecutor general is to decide whether to prosecute policemen accused of systematically torturing people suspected of being part of an armed separatist attack in Caprivi almost two years ago, 'The Namibian' said on Thursday. Jackson Tangeni Kuutondokwa, the deputy prosecutor general in Kavango, was quoted as saying that his recommendations were being typed up before being dispatched to Windhoek for Prosecutor General Hans Heyman to decide.