Windhoek  - A German aristocrat is scheduled to appear in court in the south-west African state of Namibia Thursday on suspicion of killing scores of endangered mountain zebra.

Christian Prinz zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg, 28, is alleged to have killed the animals at a private game reserve owned by his father 70 kilometres south-west of the capital Windhoek.

Windhoek  - A mystery shipwreck laden with gold discovered by geologists off the coast of Namibia in April is a 16th century Portuguese vessel that was bound for Asia, the country's information ministry announced on Tuesday.

The ship's rich bounty includes 2,000 gold coins and 1.4 kilogrammes in silver coins, the ministry said in a statement.

Researchers also found navigational instruments among the remains of the ship, which was discovered by geologists prospecting for diamonds.

Windhoek  - A Namibian rights group said Tuesday it believed it may have discovered nine graves containing the remains of hundreds of alleged victims of a past state security crackdown on the northern border with Angola.

Windhoek - Namibia has placed a moratorium on the trade of all worked ivory from September 1, including the traditional carved trinkets worn by northern tribes for centuries known as ekipa or omakipa.

The move, which the government had threatened for months, aims to prevent the smuggling of ivory harvested from elephants killed by poachers.

"While recognizing omakipas (ekipa) as cultural objects and the provisions by CITES (the international Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) for Namibia to produce omakipas and to sell these within Namibia as personal effects, the government has also has to deal with the newly-carved omakipa from ivory of unknown origin," the ministry's permanent secretary Kalumbi Shangula explained.

Windhoek  - The Zimbabwean government will have to answer to an upcoming SADC summit for violating an injunction granted by the tribunal of the Southern Afican Development Community to stop harassing Zimbabwean farmers until their case was decided by the regional court.

"The applicants have adduced abundant material to show that the existence of the failure on the part of the respondent and its agents to comply with the decisions of the Tribunal has been established," the five-judge bench said in its ruling released Tuesday.

Windhoek - British Prince Harry is to travel Namibia fo