Spectators poured into Benin's capital for a new festival celebrating traditional masks over the weekend as the West African country seeks to attract visitors and showcase its cultural heritage.

The pensioner couple found the mask from Gabon ... to return to Senegal and Benin prized artefacts that were looted during colonial times. There are some 90,000 African artefacts in France ...

A selection of the week's best photos from across the African continent ... a man in a costume and mask is surrounded by spectators at a festival in Benin's capital, Porto-Novo ...