Africa's week in pictures: 13-19 October 2023

20 October

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

A model gets her make up done before the main fashion show during the Kibera Fashion Week in the informal settlement of Kibera in Nairobi, on October 15, 2023. Kibera Fashion Week is a platform created from the community to redefine fashion and creativity while showcasing beauty and talent as a way to change the narrative about Nairobi's largest informal settlement. — Image caption,
It's time for make-up backstage at Kibera Fashion Week in Nairobi on Sunday...

Models dance and sign during a break at the backstage of main show of the Kibera Fashion Week in the informal settlement of Kibera in Nairobi, on October 15, 2023. Kibera Fashion Week is a platform created from the community to redefine fashion and creativity while showcasing beauty and talent as a way to change the narrative about Nairobi's largest informal settlement.

LUIS TATO/AFP

The event showcases talent from this low-income area of Kenya's capital city...

A models walks the catwalk while showcasing a design at the main fashion show during the Kibera Fashion Week in the informal settlement of Kibera in Nairobi, on October 15, 2023. Kibera Fashion Week is a platform created from the community to redefine fashion and creativity while showcasing beauty and talent as a way to change the narrative about Nairobi's largest informal settlement.

LUIS TATO/AFP

And hopes to change perceptions about life there.

Participants are exercising in the 15th edition of the Arise Walk for Life, tagged ''StepUp'', in Ikoyi, Lagos, Nigeria, on October 14, 2023. This annual exercise is promoting physical and mental wellbeing, highlighting preventive healthcare, and aiming to shift the narrative from curative measures to wellness.

ADEKUNLE AJAYI/GETTY IMAGES

People gather to exercise the day before in Nigeria's biggest city, Lagos, during the yearly Arise Walk for Life.

A Nigerian balloon vendor displays his wares at the celebration of the wedding of 1800 couples at Kano Central Mosque, Kano State, Nigeria on October 13, 2023. The mass wedding is sponsored by the Kano State government in Nigeria to help widows and divorcees get remarried.

KOLA SULAIMON/AFP

On Friday in northern Nigeria, this man sells balloons at a mass wedding sponsored by local government...

A bride dressed in red robe, looks on at the venue of a wedding reception at the Kano state governor's office after taking part in a mass wedding at the central mosque in Kano city, Kano State, Nigeria on October 14, 2023. The mass wedding is sponsored by the Kano State government in Nigeria to help widows and divorcees get remarried.

KOLA SULAIMON/AFP

Some 1,800 couples were married this time around.

Supporters of the Mozambican opposition party Mozambican National Resistance (RENAMO) demonstrate in Maputo on October 17, 2023. Demonstrations continued across Mozambique on October 17, 2023 to denounce fraud in the municipal elections, with police using tear gas in the capital Maputo. While the country awaits final results, the ruling party has been declared winners in most towns where counting has concluded, which has been contested by Renamo.

AFP

On Tuesday in Mozambique's capital city, riot police fire tear gas at opposition protesters who said last week's local elections were rigged in favour of the ruling Frelimo party.

South Africa's wing Kurt-Lee Arendse (L) dives past France's full-back Thomas Ramos to score a try during the France 2023 Rugby World Cup quarter-final match between France and South Africa at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, on the outskirts of Paris, on October 15, 2023.

FRANCK FIFE / AFP

South Africa's Kurt-Lee Arendse lands a try against France on Sunday, in a match that saw the hosts knocked out and South Africa advancing to their third Rugby World Cup semi-final in a row.

Contestants from Angola pose during the "Mr and Miss Albinism Southern Africa 2023" beauty pageant at the Harare International Conference Centre, in Harare, Zimbabwe, 14 October 2023 (issued 15 October 2023). The pageant, the first of its kind in the world, was held to conscientise the world that people with albinism are the same as every other person, remove stigma and also to end the discrimination and the ritual killings of albinos particularly in Africa.

AARON UFUMELI/EPA

Contestants from Angola pose during the Mr and Miss Albinism Southern Africa 2023 beauty pageant in Zimbabwe on Saturday. It is the first of its kind in the world and seeks to end discrimination against people living with albinism.

Ballet dancers Monike Cristina (front) and Revil Yon dance during the performance of PASOLINI 100 by choreographer Mario Gaglione at the Joburg Theater, in Johannesburg, South Africa, 17 October 2023. The ballet is dedicated to the late Italian poet and film maker Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922-1975) and represents some of the pivotal points of his life.

KIM LUDBROOK/EPA

On Tuesday in South Africa, ballet dancers perform a piece called Pasolini 100 in Johannesburg.

Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson, US painter Vija Celmins and Burkinabe architect Diebedo Francis Kere take a selfie before a photocall for the 34th Praemium Imperiale in Tokyo, Japan, 17 October 2023. The Praemium Imperiale is a global arts prize awarded annually by the Japan Art Association. Five laureates are nominated in the fields of Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Music and Theatre/Film. For its 34th edition, the Praemium Imperiale awards have been given to US painter Vija Celmins, Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson, Burkinabe architect Diebedo Francis Kere, US musician Wynton Marsalis and US theater director Robert Wilson.

FRANCK ROBICHON/EPA

On the same day, Burkina Faso architect Diébédo Francis Kéré (right) is one of five people honoured with Japan's Praemium Imperiale award for excellence, in Tokyo.

A view of The Simple Art of Rice's Liberian Jollof being prepared during the Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival presented by Capital One - Bacardi presents The Cookout: Hip Hop's 50th Anniversary Celebration featuring DJ CASSIDY, JJ Johnson, Rev Run, Ice-T, DJ MICK, Tamron Hall & Angela Yee at Pier 86 on October 15, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Jeff Schear/Getty Images for NYCWFF)

JEFF SCHEAR/GETTY IMAGES

Liberian jollof rice is on the menu at this food stall in New York, the US, during a hip hop festival on Sunday.

A farmer harvests a cocoa fruit at a farm in Adzope town, southern Ivory Coast, 13 October 2023. Cocoa, the main ingredient in chocolate, is a very profitable crop in West Africa. Ivory Coast leads the world in the production and export of cocoa beans, which provide 33 percent of the world"s cocoa. Ivory Coast has suspended the sale of export contracts for its cocoa for the 2023/2024 season due to heavy rains in recent weeks, which threaten the harvest of the world"s leading producer scheduled for October.

LEGNAN KOULA/EPA

And cocoa pods are harvested on Friday in Adzopé, Ivory Coast, where export contracts have been suspended because of torrential rains.

Gulewamkulu dancers of Malawi line up during a street cultural march at the beginning of the Chewa Heritage Foundation Cultural Day in Lilongwe, on October 14, 2023.

AMOS GUMULIRA/AFP

Gulewamkulu dancers line up during Chewa Heritage Foundation Cultural Day in Lilongwe, Malawi, on Saturday.

A man walks walks past damaged buildings under repair in the Mellaha, or Jewish quarter, in the aftermath of last month"s deadly earthquake, in Marrakech, Morocco, October 15, 2023.

SUSANA VERA/REUTERS

The next day in Morocco, a man walks past buildings that collapsed in Marrakesh's Jewish quarter during deadly earthquakes last month.

Ophthalmic laboratory technicians prepare frames and lenses for the following patients as one climbs off the wagon of the Phelophepa train, parked at the Dube train station in Soweto, on October 17, 2023. The Transnet-Phelophepa trains are free, mobile healthcare clinics that travel to areas of rural South Africa, where there is just one doctor for every 5,000 patients. Phelophepa, a Sotho and Venda word meaning 'good, clean health', is owned and operated by Transnet Foundation.

EMMANUEL CROSET/AFP

Medics on board a train in South Africa give free healthcare to people living in rural areas. The mobile health clinic is called Phelophepa, a Sotho and Venda word meaning "good, clean health".

A convoy of trucks carrying aid supplies for Gaza from Egypt waits on the main Ismailia desert road, about 300 kms east of the Egyptian border with the Gaza Strip, on the way to the Rafah crossing on October 16, 2023. Portrait on the banner covering the truck shows Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, with the aid provided by an unaffiliated local political party. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said while departing from Cair on October 15 the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt "will be open" for aid into the blockaded strip.

KHALED DESOUKI/AFP

The face of Egypt's president is plastered on one of many lorries waiting to cross the border into Gaza on Monday and deliver desperately needed aid.

Swati maidens carry reeds while marching outside their camps ahead of the 2023 Umhlanga Reed Dance ceremony, at the Mbangweni Royal Residence on October 14, 2023.

MARCO LONGARI/AFP

And in Eswatini on Saturday, young women perform the annual reed dance outside the Mbangweni Royal Residence in Nhlangano.

Images subject to copyright

Related Topics

Around the BBC