Africa in pictures: 13-19 February 2015

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

A supporter of Zimbabwe's cricket team looks on during Thursday's nerve-wrecking match against World Cup qualifiers United Arab Emirates in New Zealand. Zimbabwe avoided an embarrassing defeat, thanks to a well-constructed 76 by left-handed batsman Sean Williams.

While in South Africa two days earlier, a man takes shade under an umbrella to escape some of the searing heat on a roadside in Masiphumelele township in Cape Town...

While this man negotiates a rapid on Thursday during South Africa's annual Dusi Canoe Marathon - one of the world's toughest races. The event is run along the Msunduzi and Mgeni Rivers, covering a distance of around 120km (74 miles). Between 1,600 and 2,000 paddlers take part each year.

A man rollerblades past election posters in Nigeria's commercial capital Lagos on Sunday evening. Nigerian will go the polls on 28 March in what is expected to be a tight contest between opposition leader Muhammadu Buhari and President Goodluck Jonathan...

Two days earlier, cooling water melon is on sale at the Wudil cattle market in the northern Kano state...

While this vendor sells chillies and other cooking essentials on the roadside in Kano state on Friday...

The next morning, residents stroll past Kano city's Central Mosque. Kano has a majority Muslim population, and has been bombed several times by militants fighting for an Islamic state.

In Kenya on Friday, a man plays the role of a priest who tries to move villagers away as a riot scene is staged by locals for UK troops training on the outskirts of Nanyuki, a market town north-west of Mount Kenya...

Here, the soldiers intervene during the staged riot. The UK has a military base in Kenya, where training exercises are held.

On the same evening, dancers perform at one of Morocco's top nightclubs, Theatro, in Marrakesh. A BBC team was there recording for the Best Nightclub in Africa series, part of its A Richer World season.

Sudanese men collect Trona, a natural form of sodium carbonate minerals, from Oasis Natron in Malha town in the north-western Darfur region on Friday...

Trona crystallizes into a glass-like rocky substance when natural forms of sodium carbonate minerals settle on water, and is used in the manufacturing of glass, chemicals, and in the production of textiles.