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                                                                                    

 

 1  

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.    

Summary

 2  

   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.      

Environment

 3  

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  

2012.  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.    

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.    

M23 Rebels and Other Rebel/ Militia Groups

Why We Choose the UN IDP Camp, Mugunga III

 4  

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.    

  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.      

  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  

How To Win The Game

The Planning Stage

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  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.        

 5  

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.    

   UN  Field  Officer:  The  events  that  the  UN  Field  

Officer  was  thrown  into  were  adapted  from  real  events  that  

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.    

Actors

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.  

 6  

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.    

 7  

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.  

   

Game As an Assignment

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)