Africa's 2016 in pictures

By: Fiifi Tanko Almaestro

31st December 2016

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A selection of the most striking news images from the African continent this year:

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Image captionOscar Pistorius removed his prosthetic limbs and hobbled around the courtroom at his sentencing hearing in South Africa in June.
Image copyrightITALIAN NAVY VIA AP
Image captionThe capsizing of a boat in the Mediterranean between Libya and Italy is caught on camera in May by the Italian navy as officers rescued more than 560 migrants.
Image copyrightAP
Image captionA few months later in August, 20 small boats were rescued off the Libyan coast full of people from Somalia and Eritrea, included one man with his five-day-old baby.
Image copyrightAFP
Image captionProtesters in Zimbabwean burnt old banknotes during a demonstration in August in the capital, Harare, against the introduction of "bond notes", which are supposed to help with the shortage of US dollars.
Image copyrightAP
Image captionIn October, 21 women and girls were reunited with their families. The #BringBackOurGirls campaign made them world-famous after they were kidnapped by Boko Haram militants from their school in the north-eastern town of Chibok in April 2014.
Image copyrightPATIENCE ATUHAIRE
Image captionOne side of this road is in Uganda, the other is in DR Congo. Onions cost the same on both sides.
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Image captionLucas Sithole of South Africa hugged Ymanitu Silva of Brazil after competing in Wheelchair tennis at the Paralympics in September.
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Image captionOn the same day, Rwanda's sitting volleyball team sang the national anthem ahead of a match against China.
Image copyrightAFP
Image captionAnd a team of refugees in the Olympics for the first time. Half of the team were from South Sudanese, including runner Yiech Pur Biel, left.
Image copyrightAFP
Image captionSouth Sudan is famous for its wrestling and in April held its first tournament since civil war broke out in 2013.
Image copyrightREUTERS
Image captionLibya has been beset by chaos since Nato-backed forces overthrew Col Muammar Gaddafi in October 2011, enabling IS fighters to take shelter in the country. After months of fighting they were ousted from their stronghold in Sirte by the end of the year.
Image copyrightAFP
Image captionProtesters demanding electoral reforms clashed with the police in the Kibera slum in Kenya's capital Nairobi in May and school children were caught in the middle.
Image copyrightAFP
Image captionUnprecedented protests were held in Zimbabwe throughout 2016. After two activists were detained in July, protestors clashed with police in the country's second city, Bulawayo.
Image copyrightREUTERS
Image captionStreet vendors also protested in Zimbabwe but police retaliated with tear gas, which people tried to wash out of this child's eyes.
Image copyrightALAMY
Image captionFlash floods in Beledweyne, north of Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, in May saw hundreds of families forced out of their homes.
Image copyrightAFP
Image captionAnd a few months later, in October, this truck was pictured heading to the country's capital Mogadishu.
Image copyrightAFP
Image captionIn April, a young woman is seen through the horns of a bull at a cattle camp in South Sudan.
Image copyrightEPA
Image captionIn October, a South Sudan soldier blows through a cow horn during a military operation.
Image copyrightAP
Image captionThe tusks from about 6,700 elephants were burnt in Nairobi National Park in Kenya in April to show the country's commitment to saving elephants...
Image copyrightAP
Image captionMore than 100 tonnes of ivory was set alight and it took several days to burn.
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Image captionIn an effort to learn more about elephants' migration routes, collars were attached to elephants in Amboseli National Park, Kenya in November but to do this the elephants had to be sedated.
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Image captionAnother Kenyan research centre, Mpala, hosts this elephant which created a mud display for the camera.
Image copyrightREUTERS
Image captionThe French-Tunisian artist El Seed created this mural painted on the walls of houses in a poor area of Egypt's capital, Cairo.
Image copyrightAFP
Image captionOn the other side of the continent, the annual Chale Wote street art festival in Accra, Ghana, continued to grow.
Image copyrightAFP
Image captionIn November the continent was gripped by the US election, including this group of Maasai men near the Kenyan town of Saikeri listening out for the result on the radio.
Image copyrightREUTERS
Image captionIn October the Ethiopia-Djibouti electric railway line opened, cutting journey times from three days to about 12 hours...
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Image captionA lot of the workers on the trains are Chinese.
Image copyrightEPA
Image captionZimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe celebrated his 92nd birthday in February with a massive cake.
Image copyrightAP
Image captionIn the South African town of Knysna, a Rastafarian man let the photographer see his religious ceremony in May which includes taking a hit from a marijuana pipe.
Image copyrightREUTERS
Image captionIn a protest at the lack of jobs in Tunisia, an unemployed man sewed his lips together as part of a hunger strike in January.
Image copyrightAFP
Image captionGhana's main opposition New Patriotic Party won the presidential election in December.
Image copyrightAFP
Image captionFans paid tribute to Nigerian football legend Stephen Keshi in Togo's capital Lome at a memorial match in June.
Image copyrightEPA
Image captionSouth Africa saw a year of student protests against tuition fees.
Image copyrightEPA
Image captionOne supporter of Kenya's opposition Orange Democratic Movement cut a striking image in the middle of the crowd in a rally in the capital, Nairobi in June.
Image copyrightREUTERS
Image captionA railway bridge crossing over the River Nzi from Ivory Coast to Burkina Faso collapsed, as this September photo shows.
Image copyrightAFP
Image captionIn an effort to tackle the stigma faced by people with albinism, a Mr and Miss Albinism contest was organised in Nairobi in October.
Image copyrightREUTERS
Image captionAnd finally, this motorbike in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, has the message stuck "biloba loba to boyi", which translates from the Lingala as "please mind your own business".
BBC
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