Peace Building & Conflict Resolution Interactive Game with Inklewriter Software:

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1 2 Peace Building & Conflict Resolution Interactive Game with Inklewriter Software: Chaos in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kushal Ismael, Joya Mukherjee and Regan Johnston POLI 450 Rex Brynen Thursday April 18, 2013 McGill University

2 Summary The objective of this report is to provide an overview of the game, Chaos in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, using the software, Inklewriter. This game is intended to create a realistic and informative atmosphere for the player. This interactive game gives the player an opportunity to engage in peacebuilding activities through small and robust tasks that are all interconnected. As such, the game has an ambitious goal of attempting to highlight what the ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The game also allows players to participate in the UN through: the coordination to deliver aid; providing rule of law, information, shelter, disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR); and helping the conflict- run country to become a stable and strong state. This game if successful will demonstrate that when presented with a set of bad choices, an intelligent actor will always select the best relative choice, to create the most favorable outcome. At every level the actor is presented with a set of unfavorable options, which makes it seem like a generally satisfactory solution is unachievable. However, after playing the game, we have learned that combinations of the best of bad choices can produce outcomes that exceed expectations. That being said, every actor has to make bad choices even to successfully win the game, however if the actor accumulates too many bad choices they will fail the game. The intention behind the structure of the game is to make it painstakingly obvious that what actors are doing is not working, and that there will always be trade- offs in reality between acting quickly and having the most favorable outcome. The setting of the game is in the DRC, Goma. This was a strategic choice as this is the world s, rape capital and also said to be the location of the Third World War, which has made it almost impossible for the United Nations (UN) to conduct a successful peacekeeping operation, let alone tackle post- conflict reconstruction and recovery operations. The game consists of two main actors, a UN Field Officer and a Radio Okapi Journalist. These actors were also chosen with a specific intent, as they allow the player to gain information and perspectives from many angles of the conflict and peacebuilding operations. 1

3 Environment The DRC is the perfect choice as the setting for the game because of the decades of violence that have ravaged the country, left the state incapacitated, millions displaced and/or dead, and created what many call the Third World War. Although a ceasefire has been signed twice now, in 2003 and 2013, fighting has continued in the far east of the country around North and South Kivu provinces, home to heavy deposits of tin, gold, coltan, and other minerals. The remote area is very diverse ethnically and has seen clashing between government troops and various militias from the Congo itself, as well as encroachments by its neighbors, Rwanda and Uganda, and Burundi. Remnants from previously conflicts in the region have spilled over into the DRC and by some accounts there are over 24 different armed groups involved in the fighting and accusations of massacres, rampant human rights abuses, extortion, and pillaging are common. According the UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, there is almost total impunity for rape in the Congo. Given the nature of this conflict, an array of actors are involved through peacekeeping and peacebuilding operations, and humanitarian efforts. With that said there are also many actors with resources to gain from a prolonged conflict, as it is a conflict over minerals and who controls the minerals. The UN has attempted as aforementioned to come to the aid of the Congolese people, with the largest UN peacekeeping mission in the history of the UN. More importantly, this mission as of March 2013 has been enhanced to include a more aggressive and offensive military brigade to deal with the numerous rebel groups. These events and plethora of factors allow for greater flexibility and creativity when creating the game. Lastly, due to the failures of countless peacekeeping and peacebuilding missions in the DRC, there are many ways to shine the spotlight on what is problematic and what is effective in these missions. 2

4 M23 Rebels and Other Rebel/ Militia Groups Although, the M23 rebels are not a character in the game, they are potentially the most important actor within the game that counteracts every move the characters make. The M23 Rebels along with other rebel/ militia groups are in large part, puppets in the game and in real life, acting on behalf of other actors interests. For example, the M23 rebels are funded and trained by Rwanda and Uganda. These countries continue to not only supply these rebels as mentioned, but also train them by supplying their own military to give them advanced combatant skills and intelligence. M23 rebels came to the forefront of the conflict when they captured the city of Goma in November This event has spurred widespread criticism at the UN by the international community for its inability to formulate an adequate response to this rebel group. In the Kivus, there are an estimated two- dozen rebel groups. It was essential that we focused on one group to make the game as coherent as possible. The M23 rebels were also strategically placed a few kilometers outside of Goma, in 2012, UN IDP camp Mugunga III. Why We Choose the UN IDP Camp, Mugunga III Mugunga III is another focal point in the game because of the large amount of problems that the camp encounters on a daily basis, which allowed for even the most dangerous situations to seem likely. Housing over 150, 000 IDPS, Mugunga III struggles to maintain a safe atmosphere, as the conditions within Eastern DRC worsen. The upcoming elections have caused many people to flee in fear of retaliation from the Kabila regime. As a result of the mass upheaval, UN camps have been forced to accommodate for this influx of people, under conditions of already being at over- capacity. Security of Mugunga III is also compromised due to its location, at the center of the mineral trade. 3

5 The camp and near by camps are prone to looting by rebel groups, who threaten IDPs on a regular basis for their food rations and women. Mugunga III struggles like the rest of the region to control gender based violence, as rape continues to be an epidemic in the camps. Many assess this situation can claim that is based on a culture of impunity. However, through interviews with ex- combatants and women, we realized that it was much more. There are incentives to gender based violence, due to existing cultural norms, to destroy the enemy (through raping a mans wife) and to evoke a reaction from the enemy. Additionally, it is not only the rebels that have committed these crimes but also DPKO members, the people that were supposed to be protecting them. How To Win The Game To win in the game, the gamer must make a series of decisions. The goal is to not fail more than three times as an actor. The game warns actors along the way to encourage them to make better decisions. The game is structured to emphasize that no choice is the perfect choice as a way to demonstrate the hard decisions that people must make while working in the DRC. The UN Field Officer s actions can fail should their choices result in: a. An attack on the UN Camp; b. Multiple IDP deaths; c. A staff s death; and d. Less security/stability in the camp, three times. To fail as a Radio Okapi journalist, the actions have to result in the following results: a. Government shutdown of Radio Okapi; b. Listener complaints; c. A journalist is killed or receives a death threats; d. The news reported puts people in danger; and e. The government threatens to shut down Radio Okapi. The Planning Stage Writing this game depended on the utilization of two handwritten mind maps as a way for to see how each of the choices progressed. Each actor started off with one decision that spawned into various pathways, depending on if either choice A or choice B was taken. Each actor goes through a series of six or seven choices minimum, with some choices resulting in the same consequences (called looping). The crucial part of our project was the amount of collaboration that went into the gaming process. The actors were not divided up between the three group members to ensure that the game flowed and its events 4

6 matched up. Each actor took about two weeks of intensive mind mapping because both the UN and Radio Okapi characters had real life protocols that we wanted to include, to make the experience more realistic. Furthermore, trying to find an online resource to formulate mind maps proved to be a failure as the programs we tried were inefficient or did not save our work. Which added to the amount of time devoted to this project. Lastly, rules had to be created, other wise the game would never end. The rules also make it harder for the character succeed and allow us to have more control over the environment. Actors UN Field Officer: The events that the UN Field Officer was thrown into were adapted from real events that Positives of Inklewriter: Easy to use. Allowed us to see the actor choices in a finalized format with its two modes of write and read, Made easy to switch back and forth from in order to ensure the choices appeared logical. The ability to flag paragraphs in Inklewriter was also useful. Also it is very simple Mind mapping is a bonus feature Drawbacks of Inklewriter: There are some design choices that we do not agree with. The software was made to make a book, not a game. For example, the Haiti Game is something that we were aiming for. No videos or recordings or large pictures. Thus, our game depended on events and choices that could be described through text or minimal pictures. happened in the DRC during last decades of conflict. Due to the tense atmosphere exacerbated by M23 s presence near Mugunga III, it was plausible to have events and choices created by the utter chaos and for the camp to have to sacrifice supplies for safety (i.e lockdown). We chose to integrate weather related problems because every summer the DRC has an abundance of disease outbreaks that exacerbate the conflict, which cause an influx of IDPs to migrate to Mugunga III. Regarding, diseases, we simply choose a few diseases from the many that are rampant in the DRC. The Field Officer s interactions with UN headquarters relied on MONUSCO guidelines for guidance. The criticism the Field Officer receives as a leader stems from the criticism that the UN faces in DRC on a daily basis, in local and international news. 5

7 Radio Okapi Journalist: Founded by the UN, and broadcasting on government owned airwaves, Radio Okapi had to play a balancing act. It is the only legitimate news source in the DRC because of its unbiased reporting and respected reputation by the civilian population. However, Radio Okapi must also please the Kabila regime. This is difficult in an atmosphere where the government can and has shutdown the radio without any warning. Only a small percentage of the country is literate, and many people fleeing the violence depend on the radio for help on how to get to UN camps for safety. Including Radio Okapi in our game was crucial to show how the radio interacts with remote actors in conflict. The intent of using a Radio Okapi journalist as an actor was to inform the player of the high level of sexual violence going on both in the conflict and in the UN camps. In the UN camps, incidents of sexual assault are not uncommon as UN peacekeepers exploit their positions to force many IDPS to engage in sexual acts for extra food rations for their family. By interviewing the raped women, the Radio Okapi journalist provided graphic details to game players of what it is like to reside in the DRC as a woman. The Radio Okapi Journalist must continue to report an unbiased approach to this uncomfortable situation. Sexual violence was also implemented to demonstrate how DDR is connected to Radio Okapi. Having the Radio Okapi journalist interview ex- combatants demonstrated the cultural attitude in the DRC toward rape. The radio program served as additional support during the reintegration aspect of DDR. Ex- Combatants recorded interviews with rape victims, as part of the reconciliation process in DDR. In addition, the weekly radio program that featured a question and answer program with the UN Special Representative to the Secretary General demonstrated the many questions civilians had about DDR. This also highlights how important the personality of the SRSG is in conflict situations. Fabrice Muamba, the professional soccer player, was chosen to come in for a Radio Okapi interview because soccer is the second most popular program on Radio Okapi. During Muamba s interview, he talks about the importance of giving Congolese children other avenues besides joining rebel groups to escape poverty. This is an important aspect towards decreasing the prolonging of the conflict. 6

8 Game As an Assignment We have two main suggestions if the game is going to be an assignment again: 1) More time should be given for this assignment, perhaps assigning it two months advanced. 2) Game should be done collaboratively and that should be represented in each students grade, as well as having a peer evaluation between team members. Aspects of the game relating to course material: 1) DDR (UNDPKO Handbook) and types of peacekeeping/ stabilization operations a. Challenges of women being a part of DDR b. Demobilization and reintegration of ex- combatants 2) Relief and governance a. Operational challenges 3) Counter insurgency 4) Refugees and IDPs (repatriation and resettlement) a. Immediate needs b. Politics of ethnic cleansing 5) Gendered based violence (rape as a war crime) a. Reconciliation 6) Trade offs between long- term and short- term choices (setting priorities) 7) The effect of spoilers on choices 8) Translation problems 9) Disaster prone conflict areas (conflict trap and resource trap) 10) Highlights the resource- mandate gap in Chapter 7 of the UN Charter (third generation of peacekeeping) 7