A selection of the week’s best photos from across the African continent and beyond:
HASSAN ALI ELMI / AFP
Shukri Osman Muse, 25, gets ready to ride her horse in Somalia’s capital city Mogadishu on Friday. She believes she is the “first female equestrian” in the country, and says it “was a dream of mine for many years”.
ANDREA SOLERO / EPA
The next day, Kenya’s Sabrina Simader slaloms down the slopes at the FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup in Italy.
CEM OZDEL / GETTY IMAGES
In Senegal’s capital Dakar the following day, wrestlers compete in the country’s specific form of the sport – known as laamb.
YUICHI YAMAZAKI / AFP
Tunisian tennis ace Ons Jabeur is bested by this shot from her American opponent Emma Navarro at the Australian Open on Saturday.
DOAA ADEL / GETTY IMAGES
On the same day in Cairo, Egypt, lanterns go on sale ahead of Ramadan.
AMANUEL SILESHI / AFP
On Sunday in Addis Ababa, high priests gather to pray during the celebration of Ethiopian Orthodox Epiphany, called Timkat…
AMID FARAHI / AFP
Timkat marks the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan and is one of the most important religious festivals for Christians in the East African country. Here, Ethiopians living in the US city of Washington DC relish the festivities.
GERALD ANDERSON / GETTY IMAGES
Children read by candlelight on Friday in Mathare, an informal settlement in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi.
FRANCO ORIGLIA / GETTY IMAGES
Also on Friday, Congolese models pose for a photoshoot in the southern city of Lubumbashi.
TAIWO ARIFAYAN / REUTERS
Also on Friday, a woman walks past this mural in Nigeria’s biggest city, Lagos.
JOHAN RYNNERS / GETTY IMAGES
A hornbill enjoys a grub in Bela Bela, South Africa, on Thursday.
MARCO LONGARI / AFP
Days earlier in the South African town of Magaliesburg, members of the Immaculate Conception Guild pose next to a statue of the Virgin Mary at the Mother of Mercy Shrine…
MARCO LONGARI / AFP
People are gathered there on Saturday for the blessing of the statue and to perform the Stations of the Cross – a series of prayers following in the footsteps of Jesus.
SAMEER AL-DOUMY / AFP
On Wednesday, men who have migrated from South Sudan huddle around a fire during cold temperatures in northern France.
JEROME FAVRE / EPA
In Senegal on Friday, Bineta Dieng shows a photo of her 19-year-old daughter Maimouna, who left for Spain on a boat with dozens of other people two years ago, which later disappeared. “Nobody has been recovered,” she says.
ISABEL INFANTES / REUTERS
On Saturday in the British capital, London, a woman draws attention to the plight of people in the Democratic Republic of Congo, during a protest against Israel’s war in Gaza.
MOHAMED MESSARA / EPA
An artist reimagines the Last Supper on a pair of Nike trainers in Tunisia on Thursday. Kenenti workshop in the capital, Tunis, restores old shoes and handbags to create something new.
MEHMET ASLAN / GETTY IMAGES
A Masai man lights kindling for a fire in Arusha, Tanzania, on Thursday.
ABDEL MAJID BZIOUAT / AFP
People take a stroll in Morocco’s Atlas Mountains on Sunday.
YANICK FOLLY / AFP
And on Friday, girls carry basins of water in Togo’s capital, Lomé.
HASSAN ALI ELMI / AFP
ANDREA SOLERO / EPA
CEM OZDEL / GETTY IMAGES
YUICHI YAMAZAKI / AFP
DOAA ADEL / GETTY IMAGES
AMANUEL SILESHI / AFP
AMID FARAHI / AFP
GERALD ANDERSON / GETTY IMAGES
FRANCO ORIGLIA / GETTY IMAGES
TAIWO ARIFAYAN / REUTERS
JOHAN RYNNERS / GETTY IMAGES
MARCO LONGARI / AFP
MARCO LONGARI / AFP
SAMEER AL-DOUMY / AFP
JEROME FAVRE / EPA
ISABEL INFANTES / REUTERS
MOHAMED MESSARA / EPA
MEHMET ASLAN / GETTY IMAGES
ABDEL MAJID BZIOUAT / AFP
YANICK FOLLY / AFP
Getty Images/BBC
