PARIS — French President Nicolas Sarkozy's office on Thursday announced his separation from his wife, Cecilia.

Here is a brief look at some other government leaders and heads of state who separated or divorced while in office.

Nelson Mandela: A judge granted the South African president a divorce in 1996 on grounds that his wife, Winnie, had been unfaithful. The couple had wed in 1958 during a five-year treason trial in which Mandela was a defendant. In the divorce hearings, Mandela testified that his marriage had broken down almost immediately after he was freed from prison in 1990. The Mandelas had separated in 1992 after she was convicted and fined in her bodyguards' kidnapping of four black youths. One of the youths was beaten to death.

Carlos Menem: The Argentine president locked his wife, Zulema Yoma de Menem, out of the presidential residence in 1990 after she repeatedly assailed his policies. On one occasion while he was away, she invited journalists over for a barbecue to criticize his leadership. She later filed for divorce, accusing Menem of adultery. Menem married former Miss Universe Cecilia Bolocco of Chile in 2001, but announced this May that they had separated -- after photographs were published of her sunbathing topless with an Italian friend in Miami.

Alberto Fujimori: The Peruvian president cut off water and power to the quarters of his wife, Susana Higuchi, and stripped her of the title of first lady in 1994 after she accused him of tolerating widespread corruption in his administration. He said she was disloyal, as well as "unstable and easily influenced'' by his political rivals. Their divorce was finalized in 1996.

Andreas Papandreou: Greece's late prime minister left his wife in the late 1980s, when he was about 70, after having an affair with a 35-year-old flight attendant. He later divorced his wife and married the flight attendant, Dimitra Liani. While he was seeking re-election in 1989, nude pictures of Liani were prominently displayed in the press.

Goeran Persson: Persson was prime minister of Sweden when he was divorced from his wife of seven years, Annika, in 2003. He was photographed with a new girlfriend some four weeks after the divorce was finalized.