Africa in pictures: 22-28 January 2016

A selection of photos from around the African continent this week:

Giant puppets and Faro (2nd L), the mascot of the upcoming French Speakers"s Games (Jeux de la Francophonie), perform during the games" presentation at the Culture Hall in Abidjan on January 27, 2016AFP

The mascot for the 2017 Francophone Games in Ivory Games performs with puppets in the main city, Abidjan, on Wednesday. The, mascot, an elephant in national colours, is named Faro, urban slang in Ivory Coast for "show off".

A girl entertains supporters of Amama Mbabazi, former Ugandan prime minister and presidential candidate for The Democratic Alliance (TDA), with traditional dance during a campaign rally ahead of the February 18 presidential election, in Lyantonde town, Uganda January 25, 2016Reuters

This girl dances on Sunday at a campaign rally of Ugandan opposition presidential candidate Amama Mbabazi in Lyantonde town in the Central Region. The 18 February poll is being heavily contested, with eight candidates challenging Yoweri Museveni, who is seeking to extend his 30-year rule.

Children attend prayers to pay respects to the Kenyan soldiers serving in the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), who were killed in El Adde during an attack, at a memorial mass at the Moi Barracks in Eldoret, January 27, 2016AFP

In Kenya on Wednesday, children join their parents at a memorial in honour of soldiers killed by militant Islamists in Somalia.

A Touareg tribesman cuts bread in the Meggedat valley, north west of Libya"s Akakas mountain region, in the desert of the western Ghat District, in photo released on 25 January 2016Reuters

While this Tuareg man, in a photo released on Monday, sits pensively in the Libyan desert as he cuts bread.

Communal farmers cultivate maize crops in Mvuma district, Masvingo, Zimbabwe, January 26, 2016. In Zimbabwe, farmers have already lost cattle and crops in the severest drought to hit the nation in a quarter of a centuryReuters

Across the continent in Zimbabwe, farmers cultivate crops on Tuesday, having so far escaped the devastating effects of a drought which has destroyed crops and killed the livestock of other farmers.

A fire being extinguished in Cape Town on 26 JanuaryEPA

In South Africa's Cape Town on the same day, buckets of water are used to extinguish a fire at a home in an impoverished suburb of the city. It is unclear what caused the blaze, but fires are fairly common in a city where many people live in poor areas.

Teachers trainees shout during a protest outside the parliament in Rabat, Morocco, Sunday, Jan. 24, 2016AP

In Morocco's capital, Rabat, on Sunday, trainee teachers concerned about their future protest against the government's decision to cut their grants by half.

Yosri Adjili, 25, who is unemployed, goes on a hunger strike with his mouth sewed during a sit-in protest to get jobs, at the local government office courtyard in Kasserine, Tunisia, January 27, 2016Reuters

While on Wednesday, an unemployed man in Tunisia's northern Kasserine region goes on a hunger strike with his mouth sewed shut during a protest against the lack of jobs.