Plans to provide anti-AIDS drugs to HIV-positive Namibians are slowly taking shape, but the pace of implementing the government's treatment programme is still cause for concern, activists told IRIN on Wednesday. "Things are happening, but not at the pace we want; treatment is being rolled out, but it is still not country-wide," said Conny Samaria, advocacy manager for Lironga Eparu, an NGO assisting people living with HIV/AIDS.

President Sam Nujoma personally intervened earlier this year to halt an investigation into the Roads Authority, The Namibian has learnt. Well-placed Government officials said Nujoma had orally reprimanded then Minister of Finance Nangolo Mbumba, and followed that up with a letter, ordering him to discontinue a comprehensive audit of the Roads Authority's books by auditors the Road Fund Administration (RFA) had appointed.

Namibia has been listed among the countries where the HIV-Aids pandemic shows no signs of weakening - with an upsurge of new infections recorded over the past year. Health and Social Services Minister, Dr Libertina Amathila, says that about 23 per cent of the Namibian population is believed to be living with HIV-AIDS.

Journalist Paulus Sackarias and driver Simon Haimbodi, both employed by the Afrikaans daily newspaper Republikein, were threatened and arrested at the weekend in a confrontation that resulted in the confiscation of their company vehicle by Special Field Force (SFF) members.