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

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

Graduates celebrate while attending a graduation ceremony at the University of Nairobi on December 15, 2023.IMAGE SOURCE,SIMON MAINA/AFP
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Hats off to the students of Kenya’s University of Nairobi as they celebrate their graduation on Friday.
A voter marks her ballot at a polling station in Kinshasa, on December 20, 2023, as voting goes into the night after lengthy delays. Millions of Congolese head to the polls on December 20, 2023 in a high-stakes Democratic Republic of Congo general election in which President Felix Tshisekedi is seeking a new term against a fragmented oppositionIMAGE SOURCE,JOHN WESSELS/AFP
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Logistical and technical delays in the Democratic Republic of Congo mean voting carries on late into the night on Wednesday at many polling stations.
Supporters attend the presidential inauguration ceremony of the re-elected President of the Republic of Madagascar Andry Rajoelina in Antananarivo on December 16, 2023. President Andry Rajoelina took the oath in a packed stadium on Saturday to start a new term as Madagascar's leader, rebuffing an opposition boycott and international concerns over the island's futureIMAGE SOURCE,RIJASOLO/AFP
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Madagascar President Andry Rajoelina’s inauguration ceremony at the start of his second term is packed out in Antananarivo on Saturday after he won last month’s opposition-boycotted election.
Riders compete during a desert rally near Lac Rose, 35 km north-east of the capital, Dakar, Senegal on December 17, 2023IMAGE SOURCE,CEM ÖZDEL/GETTY IMAGES
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Motorcyclists kick up sand at a desert rally north-east of the Senegalese capital, Dakar, on Sunday.
People watch the traditional bullfights organized every year as it attracts great interest from locals and tourists in Kakamega, Kenya on December 16, 2023. (IMAGE SOURCE,GERALD ANDERSON/GETTY IMAGES
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In western Kenya, crowds gather for traditional bullfights in Kakamega on Saturday.
Game ranger Simba Marozva removes a tusk from a decomposed elephant which died of drought in Hwange National Park in Hwange, northern Zimbabwe on December 16, 2023. The 14,600 square kilometres (5,600 square mile) park is home to more than 450,000 savanna elephants, so many that they are considered a threat to the environment. The scene is still heart-breaking. Blackened corpses scar a landscape where the rains have been more than six weeks late and scorching temperatures have regularly hit 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit). Some have fallen in dried up water-holes, some spent their final hours in the shade of a tree. Many are infant elephants, but all that is left is the shrivelled skin over the rotting carcass. The intact tusk is a sign that it was a natural death. But there is a heavy stench around the elephants. Marozva and his colleagues go on daily hunts for the bodies. The elephants have been demanding growing attention in recent yearsIMAGE SOURCE,ZINYANGE AUTONU/AFP
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On the same day in Zimbabwe, game ranger Simba Marozva removes the tusk from the corpse of an elephant that died because of drought conditions.
Firemen work to extinguish fire after a blast at an oil terminal in Conakry, Guinea December 18, 2023.IMAGE SOURCE,SOULEYMANE CAMARA/REUTERS
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Fire fighters battle the flames after an oil terminal exploded in the Guinean capital, Conakry, on Monday killing at least 18 people.
Members of the Somali Police Band march during a ceremony to mark the 80th anniversary of the Somali Police Force at the Scuola Policia in Mogadishu on December 20, 2023.IMAGE SOURCE,HASSAN AL ELMI/AFP
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Members of Somalia’s police force march on Wednesday in celebration of the 80th anniversary of its founding.
Graffiti artists, members of the Panafrican graffiti artists group RBS paint a fresco on the wall of the hospital in Popenguine, Senegal, 16 December 2023. The fresco is part of the Askan Wi Festival, organised by the association Wakh'Art, and aims at raising awareness about breast, cervical and prostate cancers by using culture as a lever for social cohesion and public health.IMAGE SOURCE,JEROME FAVRE/EPA
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Graffiti artists create murals in the Senegalese capital, Dakar, as part of an arts festival on Saturday.
Contestants perform on stage during South Africa Mr and Mrs Albinism Pageant in Johannesburg, South Africa, 16 December 2023. The pageant aims to decrease the stigma associated with albinism and help those with the rare genetic disorder. Albinism, a congenital disorder in which people lack color pigmentation in their skin, hair and eyes, affects about one in every 20,000 people worldwide and is most common in sub-Saharan Africa.IMAGE SOURCE,KIM LUBBROOK/EPA
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On the same day in South Africa, contestants take part in the Mr and Mrs Albinism Pageant in Johannesburg, which aims to reduce stigma associated with the condition.
Women clad in their traditional outfits get ready take part in the Indoni SA Cultural Festival in the town of Richmond, outside of Durban, on December 16, 2023. The Indoni festival, a three-day feast, showcases traditions of South African provinces and aims to demonstrate unity and the unique diversity of the countryIMAGE SOURCE,RAJESH JANTILAL/AFP
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It is a holiday in the country, known as the Day of Reconciliation, and these women are getting ready to take part in a cultural festival near Durban.
A seller displays Christmas decorations for sale at Kikuubo lane in Kampala, Uganda, 17 December 2023. Ugandans are buying festival decorations and taking public transportation back to their villages as Christmas is nearing. According to official government figures, an estimated 85 percent of the country is Christian.IMAGE SOURCE,ISAAC KASAMANI/EPA
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Traders in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, are trying to cash in on Christmas on Sunday, selling tinsel and inflatable Father Christmases.
A sales woman tries on a Christmas hat in a market in Ibadan, Nigeria, 18 December 2023. Over 80 million Nigerians are Christians out of a population of 225 million.IMAGE SOURCE,SAMUEL ALABI/EPA
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In the same vein, a market vendor in the Nigerian city of Ibadan is trying to encourage shoppers to buy festive hats on Monday.

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