Enter Brad and Angelina's baby girl - to a media blackout

May 28, 2006, 14:42 GMT

Picture dated 26 January 2006 shows United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Goodwill Ambassador, US actress Angelina Jolie (L) and her companion fellow actor Brad Pitt (R) during the World Economic Forum WEF in Davos, Switzerland. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt welcomed a baby girl into the world, Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt, on Saturday night according to Pitt\'s publicist. \'The night of May 27, 2006 in Namibia, Africa, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt welcomed their daughter Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt. No further information is being given,\' publicist Cindy Guagenti said in a statement. EPA/WALTER BIERI

Johannesburg/Windhoek - Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt welcomed a baby girl into the world on Saturday night, according to a terse statement from Pitt's publicist as a media blackout was clamped on the celebrity couple's Namibia hideaway.

'The night of May 27, 2006 in Namibia, Africa, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt welcomed their daughter Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt. No further information is being given,' publicist Cindy Guagenti said in a statement.

The couple have been in Namibia since April, awaiting the baby there after claiming a lack of privacy - the result of intense media scrutiny - in the US. The couple already have two adopted children - Maddox, 4 and Zahara, 1.

Namibia's tourist ministry announced the time of birth in an SMS message as 'Sunday 01:40'.

It remained unclear whether the baby had been born in a home birth or in the local hospital. A member of the staff said: 'We have a written obligation to stay silent.'

Hollywood's dream couple and their adopted children have enjoyed government protection since their arrival and during their stay at a resort on the Atlantic coast.

Pitt, 42, discovered his passion for flying while in Namibia and has taken several lessons, the South African Sunday Times said. Paparazzi had been kept largely at bay.

Media people had to present written permits before entering Namibia. Several reporters were expelled from the country. Only individual publications such as the South African magazine, You, were allowed a glimpse of the couple's life.

One report said Brad and Angie, 'who are now both Buddhists... start their day by singing after a gong has been sounded.'

The newborn girl is a Namibian national by virtue of her place of birth. However, as the country does not recognise dual citizenship, her parents will have to make a final decision on her nationality.

Jolie and Pitt were first romantically linked while shooting the action film Mr and Mrs Smith in 2004, when Pitt was still married to US actress Jennifer Aniston. They have been divorced since last October.

Jolie, who discovered her love for Africa in her capacity as a UNHCR goodwill ambassador, is twice divorced - from Billy Bob Thornton and Jonny Lee Miller.

She is the recipient of a Golden Globe award and a best-supporting actress Oscar for her role in the 1999 movie, Girl Interrupted, starring Winona Ryder and Vanessa Redgrave.

Jolie is the daughter of Academy Award winner, Jon Voight and actress Marcheline Bertrand, and star of the action movies Lara Croft - Tomb Raider in 2001, and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life in 2003.

Pitt shot to stardom in 1991 with the hit movies Thelma and Louise and the 1992 film A River Runs Through It.

He starred as a mountain climber in Jean-Jacques Annaud's Himalayan epic, Seven Years in Tibet, and had further success in the action comedies Ocean's Eleven in 2001 and Ocean's Twelve in 2003.