Madonna and Angelina Jolie are having disputes publicly over their support for African orphans.

Both stars have apparently attacked the way the other chooses to carry out their good work. Madonna has criticized Jolie's plans to open her own orphanages while Jolie responded with comments about the singer's adoption of a Malawian baby.

Jolie, who has adopted children from Cambodia and Ethiopia as well as having a daughter with actor Brad Pitt, said in a magazine interview Madonna would have steered clear of adopting from a country where there was no legal framework for adoption.

According to the Mail on Sunday, Jolie told her to go to orphanages in Ethiopia where she found her own daughter Zahara. Madonna decided otherwise and adopted David Banda from Malawi, which has less established procedures, in October.

But Madonna said she initiated the adoption, which she saw as "saving a life," despite the laws of adoption in Malawi being less than clear and little used.

"There's over a million orphans in Malawi, and in my opinion the laws need to change because these children need to be rescued," said Madonna.

She said only two countries in Africa - Ethiopia and Kenya -- have clearly defined adoption rules.

Madonna, 48, who is in the legal processes of adopting a 1-year-old boy from Malawi, was accused by adoption groups last year of using her celebrity status to bypass laws about foreigners adopting from Malawi.

Editor: Donald