Pakistan, SA boost military relations
GENERAL Rudzani Maphwanya, the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) chief, has welcomed General Nadeem Raza, Pakistan’s chairperson of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, for an official visit to the country. Raza arrived last Sunday and left yesterday.
The two-legged tour covered working engagements in Gauteng and the Western Cape. Brigadier-general Andries Mokoena Mahapa, the SANDF’S Director Defence in Corporate Communication, said the aim of the visit was to nurture and build relations between the two countries’ military.
“The visit is of great importance due to the strategic nature of South Africa’s relationship with Pakistan, and General Raza further aimed to use his visit to the country to exchange views with his South African counterpart on a number of issues of bilateral and international concern, including ways to enhance co-operation in areas such as foreign learning opportunities for both militaries, and responses to ever-changing demands of peace support operations,” said Mahapa.
He said the visit also allowed the two chiefs to reflect on developments in Africa and internationally.
“This included opportunities that can be exploited and realised by the two Armed Forces in the United Nations sanctioned missions in order to protect the most vulnerable citizens against unlawful repression and human rights violations by enemies of peace, where each of these militaries are deployed,” said Mahapa.
Last year, around the same time in July, Maphwanya called on General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Chief of Army Staff, at the General Headquarters in
Rawalpindi, Pakistan, where, during the meeting, Inter-services Public Relations in Pakistan reported that the two chiefs discussed matters of mutual interest, the regional security situation and defence, training and security co-operation between the two countries.
The two counties (South Africa and Pakistan) have for some years hosted each other’s military counterparts.
In 2017 the than minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Nosiviwe Mapisa-nqakula, visited Pakistan, with the objective of the trip being to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on co-operation in the field of defence between South Africa and Pakistan.
The MOU was to promote collaboration and exchange between the two countries in line with the latest Defence Review.
“Due to sanctions and embargoes imposed against South Africa, the two countries did not officially initiate bilateral relations only until the end of apartheid in 1994.
“However, since then, the Pakistan-south Africa relationship has been gaining momentum,” according to the Ministry of Defence.
That trip to Pakistan by the minister marked the first official visit by a South African minister of Defence and Military Veterans in democratic South Africa.
In 2019, Air Chief Marshal Mujahid Anwar Khan, chief of the Pakistan Air Force, met his South African counterpart in the country, then Lieutenant-general Fabian Msimang. Defence Web reported during the official visit that the Pakistan Air Force said matters of mutual interest were discussed, with Pakistan offering support in the field of training, among others.