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Namibia has offered citizenship to the new baby girl of Hollywood couple Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, born near the western town of Swakopmund.
Shiloh NouvelJolie-Pitt was born at 1:40 am (0040 GMT) near Swakopmund, some 400 kilometers (250 miles) from Windhoek, the capital of the southern African country, said Environment and Tourism Deputy Minister Leon Jooste.
"The entire procedure went according to plan and there were no medical or othercomplicationsat all."
"Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt will according to Namibian law be allowed to obtain Namibian citizenship if the parents should choose to do so," he said, adding that a Namibian passport for the new arrival would be discussed with the parents "at a later stage."
The girl is the couple's first biological child.
Jolieadoptedtwo children, Maddox from Cambodia in 2002 and Zahara from Ethiopia last year. Their surnames have been changed to Jolie-Pitt.
The golden couple and the two adopted children checked into the Burning Shore beach resort in early April, where their bodyguards and Namibian police have shielded them frompaparazzi.
The new parents are "thoroughlyoverjoyed", Jooste added, "and they have expressed their happiness to be able to share this experience in Namibia".
Jolie, 30, and Pitt, 42, will remain in Namibia for some time to allow mother and daughter to recuperate, Jooste said.
The movie stars, who became close during the filming of the movie "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" last year, "expressed their deepest appreciation for the love, warmth and kindness of the Namibian people as well as understanding from all during this special and sensitive time", according to the statement.
Jolie has helped draw world attention to Africa through her work as goodwill ambassador for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
She has been welcomed by the Namibian government which has asked the press to respect the couple's privacy. Three French paparazzi and a South African photographer were ordered to leave the country for trying totake snapsof Jolie.
There was speculation that Jolie had opted to have a water birth at the private Welwitschia hospital near Swakopmund, but staff at the clinic weretight-lippedon Sunday.
The owner of the Burning Shore hotel at Langstrand, just outside of Swapokmund, declined to give details of one of the celebrity world's most anticipated arrivals.
"I cannot give you any details about the birth," said Guenther Heimstaedt. "All announcements are handled in Los Angeles."
(Agencies)
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