restoring law & order and crime prevention - Peace Operations ...

45communication and liaison with the parties to the conflict and involvingthem in negotiations and mediation for de-escalating the conflict.In the post-conflict period main focus of the military is to assist in the DDRprocess (disarmament, demobilization and resettlement of ex-combatants).Success of the military intervention in the conflict for ensuring humanprotection and security depends to a large extent on disarmament of thecombatants in the conflict zone. Therefore one of the foremost tasksassigned to the military is to disarm the warring factions. Demobilizationof the former combatants is considered key to the stabilization process, fora broader transformation from war to peace and with that objective of themilitary aims for disbanding of the warring factions.The main objective of the military in a peacekeeping mission is short-termpeacekeeping efforts directed towards:• Terminating the conflicts;• Ensuring a basic level of security and;• Producing an enabling environment in the mission area.An enabling environment is the more important long-term objectives ofpeacebuilding processes to take place, failure of which may result in therisk of the country relapsing into conflict. An important part of the longtermpeacebuilding process is re-establishing rule of law in the postconflictperiod which is considered an essential for consolidation of peace.Proper handling of the internal security challenges in the post-conflictperiod is particularly important. If this factor is not properly addressed itcan undermine and hamper the efforts for post-conflict peacebuildingprocess. This function of establishing rule of law in the mission area isprimarily assigned to the UN Police; nevertheless the military can alsocontribute in a significant way in achieving this objective by extending