ABU DHABI: His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has extended greetings and appreciation to the UAE Armed Forces founders, who contributed to building this institution, especially the late Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.
In his speech published in the ‘Nation Shield’ magazine, Shaikh Mohammad said that on the occasion of 40th anniversary of the Unification of the Armed Forces, “We greet members of the UAE Armed Forces, commanders, officers and soldiers, as well as those in other security authorities and veterans in the field.”
Shaikh Mohammed said that he, along with all mothers and fathers, and UAE citizens, extend appreciation to the nation’s martyrs who sacrificed their lives to support the right and thwart evil before it is too late, and which threatens the security and stability of our country and our region. “I greet every Emirati citizen who is part of our big Emirati family, to have love, cooperation, solidarity and good ethics, and to come together in both joy and hardships to express our loyalty to the homeland and the leadership, to enhance our renaissance and achieve our aspirations.”
Below is the speech in full:
‘’In the name of Allah, the most merciful and compassionate, brothers and sons, officers and soldiers of our brave Armed Forces, UAE citizens, Peace Be Upon You.
‘’I extend thanks to Allah for His countless blessings and ask Allah Almighty to grant us luck and success and inspire us to do the best for our people, homeland and nation. On this occasion, I extend thanks and appreciation to the founders whose vision established the UAE Armed Forces, especially the late Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.
“I also extend thanks and appreciation to every Emirati family for their cooperation, love, and good values, who are always united and express loyalty to the homeland and leadership to achieve the country’s renaissance and aspirations.
“Officers, soldiers, UAE Citizens; while celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Unification of the UAE Armed Forces, we recall the importance of the number 40 in our reality as man reaches his full maturity at this age. We know that Allah started sending the revelations to Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) when he reached 40.
“When I recall the march of Unification Day of the UAE Armed Forces during the previous forty years, every evidence of their efficiency, capacity, strength, readiness and excellence satisfies me, and gives me tranquility as we are able to break into the future and achieve our major goals. This also increases confidence in the fact that building our armed forces keeps pace with, and integrates with, other similar achievements in all comprehensive sustainable development fields.
‘’Today, our UAE Armed Forces have been engaging the fight to efficiently support what is right, as recognised by experts in our region and around the world. The UAE Armed Forces represent an Emirati model which adds elements of additional power. It also doubles their effectiveness and gives them high-profile credentials, full of credibility and influence thanks to the sacrifices of our martyrs.
“Officers, soldiers, UAE citizens: security and stability challenges are still coercing themselves on our region and the Arab world, which requires us to remain at the highest degrees of vigilance, preparedness and readiness. We do not avoid these challenges, we do not hesitate to deal with them or realise that they have been present from the beginning of creation in the lives of individuals, communities and nations, as they work closely with all human activities.
“In the middle of all these challenges, inventions and creativity are born and the history of success, failure, progress and developing is also written. We have overcome all these challenges and we have become more experienced, which has contributed to expanding our knowledge, plans and policies, as well as our ability to adapt with changes and avoid their possible impacts.
‘’As we overcame the challenges in the past, we will be able to win in the present and the future, as this is our commitment as a leadership, the people, the UAE Armed Forces and the security authorities.
“We will continue in full determination to work with our brothers to thwart threats to the security of our region and our Arab world. We are able to do so. The Arab Coalition, led by Saudi Arabia with the active participation of our country, represented a new spirit in our nation and revealed its hidden potentials, giving them the ability to act, to influence, and despair was turned into hope in the success of the joint Arab action.
“Today is not the same as yesterday. The time before the formation of the Arab Coalition is not similar to the era that followed it, this is reality and our personal experience since the establishment of our country, which has enabled us to achieve sustainable development and build our cultural boom. This enabled us to gain more benefits for the Arab world which has notably been seen in the formation and performance of the Arab Coalition, and the plans and approaches of multiple Arab countries and their domestic and foreign policies.
“I am optimistic that this new spirit in bilateral and multilateral Arab relations will push towards building the Arab security system, preserve the Arab presence, and stop foreign interference in countries’ affairs, as well as provide a security umbrella for their aspirations in development, stability and progress.
“This new spirit received more momentum due to the achievements accomplished by the Arab coalition in Yemen, where schemes to change Yemen into a threat-point for the GCC countries and the world was foiled, and we could defeat the coup forces who were forced to accept the UN Security Council Resolution No. 2216, which opened the horizon to reach a political solution that safeguards Yemen’s territorial unity and Arab identity, to enable the legitimate government to complete its control in reality as well as to fulfill its responsibilities in the rebuilding of its institutions, security deployment and to begin the development and reconstruction of that which has been destroyed by the coup militias. “The new spirit has contributed to intensifying Arab and international efforts to prepare the framework for the settlement of the Syrian crisis peacefully. It is our hope that the Syrian conflicting parties will succeed in achieving a lasting truce and put an end to the civil war, eradicate terrorism and enable the Syrian people to determine their own future.
“It also contributed to paving the way for Libyans to put a halt to chaos, violence and terrorism. The Libyan leadership, after the formation of the National Accord Government, have a valuable opportunity to begin an era of national unity, security and stability, as well as to build a modern state which utilises the huge potential possibilities of Libyans.
“UAE Citizens,
“The spirit that began after the formation of the Arab coalition, gleaned from our work, our achievements, our awareness and understanding, means that those who were affected by this spirit are seeking every means to stop it, or at least minimise its achievements, in order to prevent its positive impact. We have to pay attention to these endeavours and address them, as the road to security and stability in the Arab region is long and full of obstacles and complexities.
“Foreign interventions are still fueling the bloody conflicts in the affected Arab states, and still undermining all the Arab and international efforts to end this conflict. The terrorist groups are still active in the conflicts and divisions in the regions, and seek to spread to other areas to commit the most heinous crimes as well as continue to harm our religion, through exposure to distortion.
“It is a fact that terrorism has become an international phenomenon which has no religion or homeland, knows no boundaries nor distance and cannot be prevented by the most vigilant security measures. The whole world holds responsibility to confront the current reality of terrorism. The Islamic world, and, in the heart of it, the Arab world, holds the responsibility to double the efforts to fight the phenomena. Most of the extreme terrorist organisations have attributed themselves and their heinous acts to Islam. Hence, fighting and developing means of fighting terrorism have become a priority of Arab and Islamic countries and everyone fully understands that security solutions, despite their importance, are not enough to eradicate terrorism. It is imperative that we intensify efforts to understand and analyse its origins and components in order to effectively treat and root out the phenomena. ‘’For us, we realised early, like others, the importance of rallying all efforts to fight; and through our commitment to include this in in our policies, plans and programmes, we succeeded in achieving security and stability, and to build, accomplish and progress, while at the same time, we, as the UAE government and leadership, remain alert and ready to address all challenges and the dangers of any kind and from whatever source.
“Officers, soldiers and UAE Citizens,
“On this day, we renew our commitment for our people and homeland that we are going forward to achieve our goals in cooperation with our brothers in the GCC countries and our partners in the Arab, Islamic and international coalitions. We, the people of the right and honourable, our goals are honest and our causes are fair. We are on the right side of history, we keep up its momentum and inspire its emerging future trends. We deal with them on how to enhance the capabilities and maintain the interests of our people and our nation’s position, as well as its effectiveness and impact on the region and the world.
“Peace Be Upon You”
