Malawi groups to ask court to halt Madonna adoption
14 Oct 2006 15:03:55 GMT Source: Reuters
By Christopher Thompson LILONGWE, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Human rights groups in Malawi will seek a court injunction on Monday to stop pop star Madonna from proceeding with the adoption of a one-year-old boy in the impoverished African nation. Malawian law prohibits adoptions by non-residents, but officials are granting an exemption or waiver to Madonna, who has confirmed her intention to adopt the child who lives in a dilapidated orphanage near the Zambian border. The legal challenge would come less than a week after Malawi's High Court granted the entertainer and her filmmaker husband Guy Ritchie an interim order allowing them to take custody of a boy identified as David Banda. The couple, who arrived in Malawi on Oct. 4 on what was described as a humanitarian trip, left on Friday without the child, who did not have a passport. They departed amid growing criticism within the former British colony to the adoption. Eye of the Child, the leading child advocacy group in Malawi, said on Saturday the request for an injunction would be filed in a magistrate's court in the capital Lilongwe on behalf of about five dozen non-governmental organizations. "They (government) haven't followed the law. What has happened is a shortcut," said Boniface Mandere, a spokesman for Eye of the Child, which is among the groups seeking the injunction. A government spokeswoman declined on Saturday to comment on the impending injunction, the first clear sign of concerted opposition in Malawi to the adoption. One of Banda's relatives has questioned the way the adoption is proceeding. Outside the country, Madonna's visit to Malawi has renewed criticism from those who accuse Western celebrities of using Africa and other parts of the developing world as a platform for misplaced, publicity-fuelled altruism. Madonna spent most of her time in Malawi visiting orphanages and meeting charity workers as part of a campaign to publicise the plight of some 900,000 orphans in this nation of 13 million people, where AIDS has destroyed many families. She has pledged to donate about $3 million to the campaign to help these children, many of whom are infected with HIV. The effort is being spearheaded by her Raising Malawi charity. The 48-year-old star already has two children.
