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Whoops, blooms and blue moons: Africa's top shots

A selection of the week's best photos from across the African continent and beyond:

PATRICK MEINHARDT / AFP Contestants in matching pink suits and black hats wait backstage.PATRICK MEINHARDT / AFP
Miss Universe Kenya contestants prepare backstage in Nairobi on Friday...
PATRICK MEINHARDT / AFP Women sat on the front row cheer and shout in encouragement.PATRICK MEINHARDT / AFP
They are cheered on enthusiastically by the audience.
WIKTOR SZYMANOWICZ / GETTY IMAGES A model walks down a runway wearing a dress with a flower motif. The walls behind her also have two large flower motifs.WIKTOR SZYMANOWICZ / GETTY IMAGES
On the same day, models showcase clothes from Nigerian-born fashion designer Adebayo Oke-Lawal at the V&A museum in the UK.
CARLOS SANTIAGO / GETTY IMAGES A woman wears her hair in two puffs - one is black, the other is pink.CARLOS SANTIAGO / GETTY IMAGES
Malian basketballer Maimouna Haidara sports multi-coloured hair at a match against Venezuela in Mexico. The West Africans went on to win 88-66.
DOAA ADEL / GETTY IMAGES A man sits surrounded by Khayamiya - a decorative Egyptian textile that dates back to Ancient Egypt. He is working on one of the pieces. DOAA ADEL / GETTY IMAGES
A man crafts decorative Khayamiya textiles at a covered market in Cairo, Egypt, on Saturday.
FOUR PAWS / EPA An elephant takes food offered to him from a man's hand.FOUR PAWS / EPA
Forty-two-year-old retired circus elephant, Charlie, is transferred to a game reserve in South Africa's Limpopo province on Wednesday.
MONICAH MWANGI / REUTERS Caroline Nyaga waves and says thank you to the robot waitress that has brought food to her dining table. MONICAH MWANGI / REUTERS
A customer thanks a robot for serving her food at the Robot Cafe in Nairobi on Thursday.
JEFF BOTARI / GETTY IMAGES Dricus Du Plessis of South Africa and Israel Adesanya of Nigeria embrace and talk in the ring.JEFF BOTARI / GETTY IMAGES
Dricus Du Plessis of South Africa and Israel Adesanya of Nigeria embrace after slugging it out at their UFC middleweight championship fight on Sunday, won by Du Plessis.
WILFRIED MBINAH / AFP Residents wave flags during a military parade for Gabon Independence Day.WILFRIED MBINAH / AFP
People wave flags in Gabon's capital, Libreville, during Saturday's Independence Day parade.
YASSINE GAIDI / GETTY IMAGES An effigy of the Virgin Mary is carried above the heads of people (who are out of eyeshot). In the background, there is a large mural of a woman's face. YASSINE GAIDI / GETTY IMAGES
Christians carry an effigy of the Virgin Mary during the Madonna of Trapani festival on Friday in Tunisia's capital, Tunis.
GUERCHOM NDEBO / AFP Fans wait for the beginning of the then cancelled concert by Congolese artist Fally Ipupa at the Ihusi Village in Goma on 16 August.GUERCHOM NDEBO / AFP
Fans in Goma get hyped up before a Fally Ipupa concert on Friday. The Congolese singer ended up cancelling a string of his shows - refunds were promised but many ticket-buyers complain they have not got their money back yet.
SIMON MAINA / AFP Allan "Manazz" Mojo (L) and Tony "Kantel" Otieno (R) hold their neckchains up.SIMON MAINA / AFP
Kenyan rap duo Wadagliz pose for the camera during an interview in Nairobi. Their hit song Anguka Nayo - meaning "Roll With It" - has become a soundtrack to recent youth-led anti-government rallies.
OUPA BOPAPE / GETTY IMAGES Abigail Kubeka stands on stage at a tribute show.OUPA BOPAPE / GETTY IMAGES
In Johannesburg on Saturday, South African actress Abigail Kubeka is honoured at an event marking her 67-year career.
CHANCELIN MBAIRAMADJI MOITA/EPA People use a boat to move in a flooded street.CHANCELIN MBAIRAMADJI MOITA/EPA
People in the flooded capital of Chad, N'Djamena, use a boat to get around on Wednesday. More than 16,000 homes have been damaged and destroyed in the country since mid-July.
TCHANDROU NITANGA / AFP Burundian journalist Floriane Irangabiye (R) greets members of her legal team after walking out of the Bubanza prison.TCHANDROU NITANGA / AFP
Burundian journalist and government critic Floriane Irangabiye thanks her legal team who had pleaded with the president to free her from prison, which he finally did on Friday, granting her an official pardon.
ARLETTE BASHIZI / REUTERS Justine Munguiko holds her child who has been cured of Mpox.ARLETTE BASHIZI / REUTERS
On Sunday, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Justine Munguiko holds her child who has been cured of mpox. This virus is "not the new Covid" because authorities clearly know how to control its spread, a leading World Health Organization expert has said.
IOM / REUTERS Aid trucks with relief material for Sudan's Darfur region, at a location given as the border of Chad and Sudan.IOM / REUTERS
On Wednesday, food aid is finally permitted to enter Sudan's Darfur region for the first time in six months. The breakthrough came following international pressure to avert full-scale famine. More than half of the country's population need assistance, the UN estimates.
AMOS GUMULIRA / AFP Party supporters and delegates dance at the opening day of the Democratic Progressive Party's elective convention in Blantyre. They are wearing matching blue clothing.AMOS GUMULIRA / AFP
Malawi's main opposition DPP gathers on Sunday for a party conference where ex-President Peter Mutharika was formally chosen to stand in next year's presidential election.
JIHED ABIDELLAOUI / REUTERS Engineer in fisheries and marine environment, Ramla Bouhlel, displays a Posidonia plant, inside Notre Grand Bleu headquarters.JIHED ABIDELLAOUI / REUTERS
Fisheries engineer Ramla Bouhlel handles a Posidonia plant in Tunisia's coastal city of Monastir on Friday. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WFF), this type of seagrass "creates essential living habitats for thousands of marine species".
ESA ALEXANDER / REUTERS A super moon, known as the Blue Moon, rises over Kalk Bay harbour in Cape Town. ESA ALEXANDER / REUTERS
And on Monday evening a supermoon, also known as the Blue Moon, rises over Cape Town in South Africa.

From the BBC in Africa this week:

Getty Images/BBC A woman looking at her mobile phone and the graphic BBC News AfricaGetty Images/BBC

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