MAAC Building Bridges of Cooperation
3 February 2022
The Military Attaché and Advisory Corps (MAAC) held their Annual Ball in January 2022 after a two year break due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Brigadier General Mohamed Harb, Egyptian Defence Attaché and Dean of MAAC said that he was honoured to have SANDF leaders, including the Chief of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), General Rudzani Maphwanya, as the guest of honour present at the Ball.
“We as the MAAC board promised the MAAC community to open doors and build bridges of cooperation between our members and the South African National Defence Force and here we are, fulfilling our promise and building a good, strong and awesome relationship with the key personnel of the SANDF.”
Harb thanked the key personnel of the SANDF for their presence at the event and he said that this bodes well for the attaché community as it “means that a full, concrete, cooperation is now on the ground between our community and the SANDF through DFR (Defence Foreign Relations).”
Maphwanya said that we are all not islands, we depend on each other and addressing the room he said that he is with people who understand that together we can make the world a better place.
“Through Military Attaché and Advisory Corps engagements, we have been able to address security challenges facing us as sovereign nations. Over the years it has been crystal clear our governments would be better served if we had better cooperation in research and development, combating of terrorism and other threats that continue to threaten the peaceful coexistence of nations.”
Addressing guests Maphwanya said that security threats on the African continent and everywhere else in the world affect all of us. “We always subscribe to the notion that security is relative, you are as safe as your neighbour. We live in this global world where one country’s security challenges affect another country in one way or another.”
Covid-19 has affected the entire world and Maphwanya said that it has redefined the battlefield and how we approach issues of national interest, and security and stability. “We need to talk more and share ideas on how to resolve some of these issues.”
TDS