Pitt and Jolie have baby girl in Africa

WALVIS BAY, Namibia, May 28 (Reuters) A star is born. Hollywood heavyweights Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt -- described as the ''World's Most Beautiful Family'' by 'People' -- have had a baby daughter in one of the most anticipated celebrity stories of the year, the magazine today said.

A representative for the couple said Jolie, 30, had given birth to Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt on Saturday in Namibia, a sparsely populated desert country in southwest Africa. There were no further details available, People reported.

The couple, dubbed ''Brangelina'' by the tabloids, have been closely followed by the paparazzi in Namibia since arriving there weeks ago to have their baby.

Jolie reportedly took a shine to Namibia, better known for dunes and diamonds, while filming the movie ''Beyond Borders''. She is a frequent visitor to Africa and is a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

The couple have been staying in a sealed off beach resort in the tiny village of Langstrand and it was unclear if the child had been delivered there or at one of the private hospitals in the nearby towns of Walvis Bay and Swakopmund.

Local residents in the Walvis Bay, shrouded in fog today morning, were thrilled by the celebrity birth.

''It's great ... She has put us on the map. It is a great thing,'' said resident Della van Noorten.

Another resident, who asked not to be named, was also very happy but told the media to lay off.

''I am happy for her -- and leave them alone,'' the resident said.

MADE IN THE MOVIES Pitt, 42, met Jolie in 2004 while they were working together on the film ''Mr and Mrs Smith,'' in which they played married assassins ordered to kill each other. The movie ends with them still alive and happily married.

Representatives for Jolie and Pitt could not be immediately reached for comment.

Jolie already has two adopted children -- son Maddox, 4, and daughter Zahara, who is about 15 months old.

The couple's stay in Namibia spurred a local media frenzy with increasingly wild and unconfirmed stories including suggestions that the new baby would be named by an African chief or delivered underwater in a ''water birth''.

Green cloth screens mask the beach resort where they are staying and bodyguards and Namibian security have kept a tight cordon around them, hounding some journalists out of town.

Photographers from all over the world have come to the area hoping to capture the first picture of the baby, which is expected to garner a multimillion-dollar price tag.

In a sign of media fascination with the pair, ''New York'' magazine recently said the baby was the most anticipated since Jesus and would be more newsworthy than the recent birth of a daughter to Hollywood stars Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes.

A South African photographer was arrested on Wednesday for the second time after he was caught on private property trying to snap a picture of Pitt and Jolie.

Jolie, who won an Academy Award as best supporting actress for playing a psychiatric patient in ''Girl, Interrupted,'' was divorced from actor Billy Bob Thornton in 2003. Before that she was married to actor Jonny Lee Miller.

Pitt, a heart-throb famed for his looks and roles in movies such as ''Fight Club'' and ''A River Runs Through It,'' and ''Friends'' star Jennifer Aniston were divorced last year.

REUTERS SY PM1607