A selection of the best photos from the African continent and beyond.
Women dress up on Friday, as the year comes to a close, for a song and dance festival in South Africa’s remote area of Msinga…
The event aims to promote harmony among villagers and good behaviour among young people.
During New Year’s Eve celebrations at Meskel Square in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, on Sunday, these revellers take a selfie.
The day before, a woman plays with her baby amid festive lights in Nigeria’s main city Lagos.
This child is finding it difficult to stay up during a New Year’s prayer service at a church in the Kibera district of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, on Monday.
The next day, in the South African city of Cape Town, someone has their face painted for the Cape Minstrel Carnival, which marks Tweede Nuwe Jaar, Afrikaans for Second New Year…
Minstrels parade through the city’s streets – a 300-year-old tradition that was started when slaves were given the day off work on 2 January and is still celebrated each year.
On the same day in the Mabopane township in South Africa’s economic heartland of Gauteng, people take part in a parade in honour of African soldiers who fought in World War One.
Sporting events also take centre stage over the New Year. On Monday, crowds chant and dance at a bullfighting tournament in Malinya stadium near Kakamega in western Kenya.
In the Niger city of Agadez on Sunday, two men fight in a wrestling competition held annually for the past 44 years.
This man’s mind is on politics on Sunday in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, as he celebrates the victory of President Félix Tshisekedi in elections rejected by the opposition as a sham.
While politics is far from this man’s thoughts as he dives into the ocean in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, on Friday.
