Former Preston North End centre back Mawene impressed during a week's trial at Pittodrie last month and Brown has quickly moved to sign the 31-year-old on a pre-contract.
He will officially join up with the Dons when his current contract ends next week.
Mawene was Brown's last signing when manager at Preston, just one month before Brown was sacked at Deepdale in September 2004.
And the player is looking forward to working with Brown again after a spell in Greece.
He told RedWeb: "I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Craig at Preston. He is a fantastic coach and really sold Aberdeen as a club and a city to me when I was on trial here recently.
"After my experiences in Greece I can't wait to get started."