The civilian dimensions of the African Stand-by Force system : feature

In the 21st century, the focus of international conflict management is increasingly shifting from peacekeeping, which was about maintaining the status quo, to peacebuilding, which has to do with managing transitions1. Since 1989 most UN peace operations have, in effect, been peacebuilding operations in that their focus was on supporting the implementation of comprehensive peace processes, which included classic peacebuilding tasks such as disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR), justice sector reform, organising elections, training and restructuring new police forces, and facilitating the transition from interim to transitional, and eventually to democratically elected governments.