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Africa's week in pictures: 3-9 May 2024

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

IHSAAN HAFFEJEE/REUTERS A man holds a cannabis cigarette in his mouth at the protest in Johannesburg. He is wearing yellow sunglasses with a big, green, marijuana leaf motif.IHSAAN HAFFEJEE/REUTERS
On Saturday, pro-cannabis demonstrators in South Africa call on the government to speed up legalisation.
JUSTIN LANE/EPA Aya Nakamura wears an ivory dress encrusted in pearlescent flowers. Her wig and eyebrows are dyed a vivid shade of blonde.JUSTIN LANE/EPA
Aya Nakamura poses for photographs at New York's Met Gala on Monday. The Malian-born, French-raised singer suffered a racist backlash when she was mooted as a performer for the forthcoming Paris Olympics Games.
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MOHAMED HOSSAM/EPA Children attend a soccer training session at "Mostaqbal" (Future) soccer academy for refugees, in Cairo, Egypt.MOHAMED HOSSAM/EPA
Young South Sudanese refugees show their footballing prowess at an academy in Egypt on Friday.
BORJA SUAREZ/REUTERS A soldier from the Sahrawi Popular Liberation Army walks along a dune.BORJA SUAREZ/REUTERS
On the same day, this soldier from the Sahrawi People's Liberation Army patrols a refugee camp in Algeria for people from the disputed territory of Western Sahara.
TIKSA NEGERI/REUTERS Ethiopian Orthodox deacons hold candles during the Easter Eve mass at the Wukro Cherkos rock-hewn church in Wukro.TIKSA NEGERI/REUTERS
Worshippers mark the eve of Ethiopian Orthodox Easter in Ethiopia's Tigray region on Sunday.
LEGNAN KOULA/EPA A monkey near the sacred forest of Gbeupleu, in the town of Man, Ivory Coast. The sacred forest of Gbepleu is home to Campbell's monkeys, a species considered sacred and thought to be the descendants of humans who transformed into primates to escape colonisers, according to legends. These sacred monkeys along with the sacred forest contribute to ecotourism in the city of Man and although visiting the wooded sanctuary where these monkeys live is strictly prohibited, tourists can stop along the roadside of the sanctuary to see them.LEGNAN KOULA/EPA
Tourists hand a banana to a monkey on the edge of Ivory Coast's sacred Gbeupleu forest on Saturday.
STEPHANIE LECOCQ/REUTERS Egypt"s Nadine Barsoum and Hana Hiekal in action during the women's duet free finals.STEPHANIE LECOCQ/REUTERS
On the same day, synchronised swimming duo Nadine Barsoum and Hana Hiekal of Egypt compete at the World Aquatics Artistic Swimming World Cup in France.
ESA ALEXANDER/REUTERS A family member of one of the construction workers reacts near the site where construction workers are trapped under a building that collapsed in George.ESA ALEXANDER/REUTERS
A devastating building collapse on Tuesday trapped dozens of people in the South African city of George - the search for survivors is ongoing.
MOISE KASEREKA/EPA Mourners take part in a vigil to commemorate last week's attack on displaced people camps in Goma.MOISE KASEREKA/EPA
On Monday, citizens hold a vigil for civilians killed in a mortar attack on a camp for displaced people in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The US and Congolese officials say the fire came from military positions held by Rwanda and the M23 rebels. But Kigali denies this and claims DR Congo is to blame.
JOHN WESSELS/AFP A young man looks as a woman takes a horse ride along a beach in Banjul.JOHN WESSELS/AFP
And on Saturday, in The Gambia's capital, Banjul, people sit and walk beside the ocean.

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