Africa’s week in pictures: 16-22 September 2023

A selection of the best photos from the African continent and beyond.

A goat trader in Benin poses inside his van on Monday.

While the vehicle is the focal point of this photo, snapped in Kenya on Tuesday.

Sunlight breaks through dark clouds above the Dungu River in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Monday.

And lights from mobile phones shine as Mahmoud Kahrba, a footballer with Egyptian club Al-Ahly, wipes his brow in Friday’s game against Algeria’s USM Alger.

The next generation of footballers plays near a plantation in Sudan on Friday.

While on the same day, children in the Tunisian capital, Tunis, began a new academic year.

A masked witness leaves court in Goma, DR Congo, during the trial of six soldiers accused of crimes against humanity.

Nigerien protesters spend their Friday outside a French army base, pausing their demonstration to pray in a neat formation.

Thousands of kilometres away, a costumed climate change protester is ordered on Tuesday to leave the area outside Standard Bank’s Johannesburg office.

Elsewhere in South Africa, mourners say goodbye to outspoken politician and Zulu leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi.