WINDHOEK, March 20 (AFP) - African presidents are due in Windhoek Tuesday to help Namibia celebrate 10 years of independence, an anniversary which comes against a background of instability on its border with Angola.

The guest list has not been confirmed, but officials expect South Africa's Thabo Mbeki, Mozambique's Joaquim Chissano and Nigeria's Olusegun Obasanjo to be among thousands of people at the celebrations at the independence stadium.

Also invited are former Zambian leader Kenneth Kaunda and Finland's ex-president Martti Ahtisaari, who was the United Nations' special representative to Namibia during the transition to independence from South Africa in 1990.

"After 10 years of independence, democracy and the rule of law have become a way of life in our country," President Sam Nujoma said Sunday, announcing his new cabinet, to be sworn in during the anniversary celebrations.

Nujoma, 70, will also be sworn in Tuesday for his third term as president, won after he and his South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO) took over 70 percent of the vote in December's elections.

Nujoma and SWAPO first swept to power in an UN-supervised election on March 21, 1990, after a liberation war, fought mainly from bases in Angola and Zambia, between 1966 and 1989.

The country was a German colony from 1884 until it was occupied by South Africa in 1915 and named South West Africa.

Nujoma pledged his new cabinet to maintaining "peace and stability." But Namibia's reputation as one of Africa's stable nations has been threatened by unrest in its north in the past year.

In August rebels demanding the secession of the northeastern Caprivi region launched a bloody attack on the town of Katima Mulilo. Fifteen people were killed.

The Caprivi Liberation Army's raid shocked the nation, which had not experienced unrest since independence. Windhoek hit back and the secessionists went to ground.

Conflict returned to the north in December after the government allowed the army of neighbouring Angola to use Namibian territory as a launchpad for attacks against UNITA rebels across the border.

Retaliatory raids by the Angolan rebels -- at war with their government since independence in 1975 -- led to the deaths of almost 30 civilians in the Kavango region this year.

Tension remains high, but Windhoek has not reconsidered its stance.

In January, three French children were shot dead by suspected UNITA rebels in the Caprivi and their parents seriously wounded. This shattered the area's important tourism industry.

"It is sad that the jubilation which greeted our independence from South African rule has been subsequently overshadowed by the dark clouds of war," Gwen Lister, editor of the leading The Namibian newspaper, wrote last week.

She added though, "even now, we can count ourselves among the more fortunate in the African context, despite several burning problems such as rising unemployment, the spread of HIV-AIDS and a high crime rate."

Namibia has made impressive development gains, according to the United Nations Development Programme's latest report, which notes increasing literacy and improving health services.

Infant mortality, for example, has been slashed from 115 per 1,000 live births in 1989 to 58 in 1997.

But these strides have been undermined by the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS, estimated to have infected 10 percent of the 1.8 million population and brought life expectancy down from 57.5 in 1990 to 52.4 in 1997.

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