Luanda

You know, this is his thing.

Like the guy who just paints his chest like Luanda.

Yeah.

so yeah this this guy um he's in over his head very quickly he realizes um and there's the mama's boy who yells out for mama mama at the end i think there might be a small comment in there this guy is constantly cowardly um and there's the young black fella is his name i don't know if he's crib or if he's sims but at any rate one of these guys like he just seems like and and honest to God, good old boy who signed up because this was a paycheck, right? So there's not a serious element to, you know, this squad, right? Like they are a group of misfits and that they're sort of under Peter Coyote's command.

If you measure it in barrels per day produced, it accounts for about 45% of the total Angolan production.

So it's a major contributor and major player That's why they probably were part of a conference in Luanda, in the capital of Okonkwo on Wednesday.

And this is where the CEO, Patrick Foyani, made the statement that they are planning to be expanding.

Already we're expecting the operation to come on board in 2028 because this is linked to the... to the other projects in Angola.

But there is also something irreplaceable about an aircraft that is still flying.

The DC-8s, pulling cargo to Kinshasa and Luanda and Bogota, are still doing the work they were built to do.

They are flyable, maintained, crewed by pilots with current type ratings who understand the aircraft's specific characteristics and quirks.

When those last aircraft stop flying, those pilots retire or transition to other types.

Traveling in Angola can be risky as more than 14,000 acres of land are still contaminated with mines, a legacy of the country's nearly three decades of civil war.

For years, Palatits couldn't get permission to go outside the capital, Luanda.

But in late 2018, he was introduced to Jose Zeca Agostino, an Angolan who had spent decades doing demining work, including in the Huambo province, where the Falcons seemed to be congregating.

Agostino lined up the right paperwork and our 10-year dreams came together in three months, Palatits says.

They lead food tours all over the world to post-Soviet Georgia for wine tours.

They've gone to Luanda, Angola.

It's a really fascinating journalism model that I'm not sure if everyone, maybe the Tribune can start leading food tours all over the world and help pay journalists that way.

So I talked to him after he and his colleagues won another James Beard award, and here's what they said.

So from there, all we did was obviously we needed money.

And then the buyers from Luanda and three different locations up in the north of Angola, they went about buying diamonds off anyone.

And once we had enough, I'd move those diamonds back and we'd move them out to a plane and it went like that.

So

So they knew that those vehicles, if you hit those, you were going to probably find cash or diamonds.

And so a lot of them were attacked and shot up.

So it was tough to make sure that you were doing all the right drills, all the right procedures that you best could to sort of – firstly, we'll navigate through Luanda.

It was an absolute nightmare.

And also it is a lot cheaper than it used to be.

I'm still battling... battling people on social media who post old stories talking about how Luanda, the capital city of Angola, is the most expensive city in the world.

It used to be, it isn't anymore.

They devalued the currency and now it is actually quite a reasonably priced African city.

Nigeria has condemned what it describes as recurring xenophobic attacks targeting Africans and other foreign nationals in South Africa, warning that such incidents undermine African solidarity, unity and peaceful coexistence.

Speaking on behalf of President Bolatinebu at the Africa Union Extraordinary Conference, in Luanda, Angola, Vice President Kashim Shetima called for stronger continental action to combat xenophobia.

He called on the African Union to place the issue on the agenda of its 40th ordinary session scheduled for January 2027 for consideration and appropriate action.

Nigeria wishes to express its concern over the recurring xenophobic and apophobic attacks against Africans and other nationals in South Africa, while recognizing South Africa's sovereign right to impose its immigration laws and acknowledging its contributions to the continent.

Nigeria emphasizes that dialogue, preventive diplomacy and collective action are essential to advancing African unity and solidarity.

While also speaking at the AU summit, President Mahama called for a faster shift towards African-owned peace support operations, saying the continent must reduce its long-standing dependence on foreign donors to resolve its conflicts.

He said Ghana is committed to self-reliant conflict resolution and formally endorsed the Luanda Action Plan and the African Union Trigger Model.

At the same time, Ghana recognizes the importance of predictable and sustainable international financing for African-led peace support operations.