Long-time Namibian President Sam Nujoma said Tuesday he might run for a fourth term in office, but only "if requested by the people." "One cannot ignore the call by the people because the people are the ones who make the final decisions," Nujoma said in an interview with the state-run Namibian Broadcasting Company (NBC).

He added he would stand for a fourth term "if it was requested by the people." Namibia's constitution was amended to allow Nujoma to serve a third term in 1999, but the veteran politician has repeatedly insisted he does not want a fourth.

Namibia, the former German colony of South West Africa, was annexed by South Africa after World War II.

Nujoma, who has headed the South West African People's Organisation (SWAPO) since 1962 and led its armed struggle against South African rule, was elected president at independence in 1990, and was re-elected in 1994 and 1999 with more than 75 percent of the vote.

Meanwhile, the NBC said hundreds of Namibians in the north of the desert country would stage a demonstration on Wednesday to call for a referendum which could pave the way for Nujoma's fourth term.

The corporation said organiser Friedrich Shipena told them that Nujoma supporters would deliver the petition for the referendum at Oshakati, some 600 kilometres (400 miles) north of Windhoek, to the office of the regional governor.

Should Nujoma be re-elected, his fourth term would end in March 2009, two months before his 80th birthday.

Nujoma late last year told the London-based New African magazine: "You know, I'm growing old. Age doesn't wait for anybody.

I am going to retire to the party headquarters." SWAPO's central committee is expected to hold an extraordinary congress in May to discuss Nujoma's succession, which remains an open question - Sapa-AFP.