Johannesburg - US popstar Madonna attended a court hearing in Malawi on Monday in her bid to adopt a second child in the southern African country.

The hearing in the capital Lilongwe was held behind closed doors, the BBC reported.

Madonna is trying to adopt a sibling for her three-year-old Malawi-born adoptive son David Banda and two biological children, Lourdes and Rocco.

Malawian authorities have been tight-lipped about the identity of the child, but court documents showed the singer's sights were set on a girl called Chifundo (Mercy) James, the BBC reported.

Madonna is said to have met the child two years ago in the same orphanage, where she and then husband Guy Ritchie selected David in 2006 when he was 13 months.

That adoption was shrouded in controversy when it emerged that David's father was still alive and that the government had skirted its own rules on adoptions by non-residents in granting the couple custody of the infant. The adoption was made official last year.

Human rights activists in Malawi have accused Madonna of using her money to influence the adoption process and urged tighter adoption laws.

This time around, the circumstances are different again in that Madonna is now a single parent.

In an interview with a local newspaper earlier this month, Madonna said she would only adopt again in Malawi if she had the support of the population and government.

The number of orphans in Malawi is estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands, in a population of 11 million. Many have lost one or both parents to HIV/AIDS and have themselves contracted the virus through mother-to-child transmission.

Half of all citizens of the landlocked country live below the poverty line, leading some parents to feel their children are better off in an orphanage. (dpa)