He just wants his son to have a better life.

The father of the 13-month-old boy who Madonna wants to adopt is speaking out. Yohane Banda told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he's upset with human rights groups who are challenging the pop star's adoption. Banda said he gave the boy up for adoption because he was too poor to care for him after the boy's mother died of childbirth complications.

"Where were these people when David was struggling in the orphanage? These so-called human rights groups should leave my baby alone," he said. "As father I have OKed this, I have no problem. The village has no problem. Who are they to cause trouble? Please let them stop."

Banda countersigned the boy's adoption papers, also signed by Madonna and husband Guy Ritchie.

The couple, who had been married for over 10 years, had two other sons who died in infancy from malaria.

"I was alone with a baby. I had no money. I couldn't buy him milk. That's why I surrendered him to the orphanage," said Banda.

"Orphanage life is no good. We leave kids there because we can't look after them properly ourselves. Now my son has been taken by a kindhearted woman, these people want to bring him back to the orphanage," said Banda, standing in his small garden of onions and tomatoes.

He said Madonna and Ritchie promised him nothing apart from "love and care for my David."

CHALLENGE

The Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema compared Madonna's taking custody of David to a "kidnapping" and called for clearer international rules, according to his spokesman, confirming accounts of his remarks in Italian media.

The Human Rights Consultative Committee, a coalition of 67 organizations, launched a legal challenge on Tuesday. Children's advocates in Malawi have stressed they are not opposed to Madonna adopting David, but want to ensure rules meant to protect children aren't ignored.

MADONNA'S SIDE

"Madonna and her husband has broken no laws as far as government is concerned. They have followed all the legal steps," Penston Kilembe, director of Child Welfare Services in Malawi's Ministry of Gender, Child Welfare and Community Services, said.

In a statement last week, the British development group ActionAid lauded Madonna for helping David and her wider projects for AIDS orphans in Malawi.

Madonna said in a statement Tuesday: "We have gone about the adoption procedure according to the law like anyone else who adopts a child. Reports to the contrary are totally inaccurate."