Africa's week in pictures: 12-18 March 2021

A selection of the week's best photos from across the continent.

Zebras cross the road which has about 70 meter-long free electric-fence area for all animals as their corridor in the Amboseli-Tsavo ecosystem at night as a motorbike waits next to Kimana Sanctuary in Kimana, Kenya, on March 14, 2021. - A turf war has erupted over a 180-acre avocado farm near one of Kenya's premier national parks, where elephants and other wildlife graze against the striking backdrop of Africa's highest peak. Opponents of the farm say it obstructs the free movement of iconic tuskers -- putting their very existence at risk -- and clashes with traditional ways of using the land. The farm's backers refute this, saying their development poses no threat to wildlife and generates much-needed jobs on idle land. The rift underscores a broader struggle for dwindling resources that echoes beyond Kenya, as wilderness is constricted by expanding farmland to feed a growing population.Getty Images

On Sunday zebras cross the road as a motorcyclist waits in Kimana Sanctuary in Kenya.

Touré, a Gambian salt harvester, holds a basket filled with the salt harvested from the crust of the bottom of the Lake Retba (Pink Lake) in Senegal on March 16, 2021. - Lake Retba, divided from the Atlantic Ocean by a narrow corridor of dunes, owes its name to the pink waters caused by the Dunaliella salina algae and is known for its high salt content, up to 40% in some areas.Getty Images

On Tuesday, Touré, a Gambian salt harvester collects salt from the bottom of Lake Retba in Senegal...

Toure, a Gambian salt harvester, holds a basket filled with the salt harvested from the crust of the bottom of the Lake Retba (Pink Lake) in Senegal on March 16, 2021. - Lake Retba, divided from the Atlantic Ocean by a narrow corridor of dunes, owes its name to the pink waters caused by the Dunaliella salina algae and is known for its high salt content, up to 40% in some areas.Getty Images

... it is known as the "Pink Lake" because of the algae which changes the colour of the water.

A giant sand portrait by WaterAid and artists Sand In Your Eye of Ansha, a 12-year-old from Frat in Ethiopia adorns Whitby Beach on March 15, 2021 in Whitby, England. Ahead of World Water Day on 22 March WaterAid created the portrait in the sand on Whitby Beach of a child carrying water next to the rising tide, to highlight the impact climate change is having on people’s access to water. The 60-metre wide artwork depicts Ansha from Frat in Ethiopia, who spends hours each day walking to and collecting dirty water from a river. After only an hour Ansha’s image was washed away by the rising tide – highlighting how excess rainfall and rising sea levels can lead to flooding, contaminating water and endangering lives.Google

On Monday artists make a portrait of 12-year-old Ansha from Ethiopia out of sand...

A giant sand portrait by WaterAid and artists Sand In Your Eye of Ansha, a 12-year-old from Frat in Ethiopia adorns Whitby Beach on March 15, 2021 in Whitby, England. Ahead of World Water Day on 22 March WaterAid created the portrait in the sand on Whitby Beach of a child carrying water next to the rising tide, to highlight the impact climate change is having on people’s access to water. The 60-metre wide artwork depicts Ansha from Frat in Ethiopia, who spends hours each day walking to and collecting dirty water from a river. After only an hour Ansha’s image was washed away by the rising tide – highlighting how excess rainfall and rising sea levels can lead to flooding, contaminating water and endangering lives.Getty Images

... the artists Sand in your Eye make the portrait on the beach in Whitby in the north of England for the charity WaterAid.

A security forces member embraces a woman draped in an Algerian flag during a student-led demonstration in Algeria's capital Algiers on March 16, 2021.Getty Images

Also on Tuesday, a police officer hugs a protester at the latest in long-running demonstrations in Algeria's capital Algiers...

Algerian demonstrators take part in an anti-government demonstration in the capital Algiers on March 16, 2021Getty Images

... the protesters are demanding everyone from the previous ruling elite leave power.

Students block Johannesburg roads in protest over university fees on March 15, 2021. Students took to the streets of Johannesburg early on Monday to continue their protests about fees as 26 universities across SA braced for a national shutdown. Students, countrywide, demonstrated demanding that those who are in debt be allowed to register and that historical debt be wiped out.Getty Images

On Monday a protester is caught mid-flight in Johannesburg at demonstrations demanding a change in financial aid for university students.

A man carries chickens at Kedamay Weyane livestock market in Mekelle city of the Tigray region, in northern Ethiopia on March 16, 2021 as life returns back to normal after the city was captured with an operation towards Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF).Getty Images

A man counts his chickens at the livestock market in Mekelle, capital of Ethiopia's Tigray region, on Tuesday.

A boy splashes himself with water in the Atbarah river near the village of Dukouli within the Quraysha locality, located in the Fashaqa al-Sughra agricultural region of Sudan's eastern Gedaref state on March 16, 2021. - The decades-old border dispute over the Fashaqa fertile farmland region, sandwiched between the Atbarah and Setit (or Tekeze) rivers, and where Ethiopia's northern Amhara and Tigray regions meet Sudan's eastern Gedaref state, dates back decades, feeding regional rivalry and even sparking fears of broader conflict. With the zone contested, the exact area is not clear, but Fashaqa covers some 12,000 square kilometres (4,630 square miles), an area claimed by both Sudan and Ethiopia.Getty Images

On the same day in Sudan's eastern Gedaref state, a boy splashes himself with water from the Atbarah river.

A man reads a newspaper with a headline announcing the death of Tanzania's President John Magufuli in Dar es Salaam, on March 18, 2021. - Tanzania was plunged into mourning on March 18, 2021 over the death of President John Magufuli following weeks of uncertainty over his health, with his swing to authoritarianism leaving a divided legacy.Getty Images

Tanzanians catch up on Thursday with the news announced on Wednesday that their president, John Magufuli, had died aged 61.

People gather for a ceremony organized by Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace (RHDP) political party in homage to the late Ivory Coast Prime Minister Hamed Bakayoko at the Olympic Stadium in Abidjan, Ivory Coast on March 17, 2021. Hamed Bakayoko, 56, died late Wednesday in Germany after being hospitalized for cancerGetty Images

On Wednesday mourners gather at the Olympic stadium in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, to remember the late Ivory Coast Prime Minister Hamed Bakayoko...

Ivorian reggae singer Alpha Blondy (C) performs during a concert in homage to late Ivory Coast Prime Minister Hamed Bakayoko at the Ebimpe Olympic Stadium in Anyama, Abidjan, on March 17, 2021. - Ivory Coast's Prime Minister Hamed Bakayoko, a popular leader who reached across the political spectrum as the divided West African country seeks reconciliation, died aged 56 on March 10, 2021, following cancer treatment in a German hospital. Bakayoko, popularly known as "Hambak", died four days after legislative elections that went ahead peacefully and handed victory to the ruling RHDP party.Getty Images

... Reggae star Alpha Blondy is among those paying tribute to Bakayoko, who died aged 56 after being treated for cancer.

An elderly Zulu woman wearing a cloth reflecting the face of King Goodwill Zwelithini walks inside the KwaKhethomthandayo royal palace during his memorial service in Nongoma, South Africa, on March 18, 2021. - King Goodwill Zwelithini died on March 12, 2021 in the eastern city of Durban, aged 72, after weeks of treatment for a diabetes-related illness.His remains have been taken back to his birthplace, the small southeastern town of Nongoma in Kwa-Zulu Natal province, where he will be laid to rest after midnight.Getty Images

Mourners in South Africa also remember Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini who died last week aged 72 after a diabetes-related illness.

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