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Introduction
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Conclusion
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Forty-five participants and expert role players from 20 countries took part in the "South East Asia Single Issue Seminar: Mission Command and Control" in Bangkok, Thailand, the tenth event in the Asia Pacific Peace Operations Capacity Building Program. This event was co-sponsored by the Government of Thailand and US Pacific Command, was sanctioned by the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations, and was executed by the Center of Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance.

The purpose of this seminar game was to share information and exchange experiences on multilateral, multifunctional, strategic and operational level civil military operations, and to address a single issue in greater depth than was possible in previous events. The specific objective was to examine issues related to command and control aspects of peace operations as these so often cause problems in multi-functional missions. The scenario involved national participation in a multinational force sanctioned by the UN Security Council, in response to a complex contingency situation, the ensuing challenges, and eventual transition to a mandated UN mission, to include the full range of participation by political, diplomatic, humanitarian, police and military components.

The scenario-driven seminar game was situated in a mythical island location named Tindoro. A border conflict between two neighbors has resulted in extensive displacement of populations and has created political and conflict crises to which the international community has attempted to respond. The crises have not been resolved and the international community has mandated a peace operation to support the restoration of a peaceful environment, support to the humanitarian relief effort, and assist with demarcation of the border and the peaceful return of the displaced to their homes.

Participants were divided into four syndicates, who were presented with three problems, each move posing different issues that loosely represented the beginning, middle and end of a complex operation. The first and third moves served to introduce the concepts that initiated the operation and provided closure for the operation respectively, while the bulk of participants' attention was devoted to the complexities contained in the second move. The specific issues the participants were asked to explore include:

1. The political management or command and control of a mission and the development of unity of effort between components;
2. Command and control issues within the military component;
3. The command and control interface between the humanitarian community and the other components in the mission;
4. The interaction between the varied agencies and organizations deployed to a crisis including international organizations, other governments and non-governmental organizations;
5. Linkage to the host nation and parties to the conflict;
6. Lessons learned from recent operations;
7. The leadership role in commanding and controlling complex operations.

The products of the event included the production and distribution of a CD ROM to participants, a copy of the final report to the event's co-sponsors, and finally the development of recommendations for follow on events.

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