The passivity and/or complicity of “bystander nations” was especially horrifying in the case of Rwanda. It is important to examine it as a case study of what should not happen. In addition to considering perpetrators of great and “unjustified” violence as evil, should passivity that allows great harm to others ever be considered evil?

The circumstances bystanders face in a situation such as Rwanda are different from those of witnesses who see in front of them a person who is in great distress and needs help (des Forges, 1999). Even then, circumstances are usually ambiguous: There is pluralistic ignorance, diffusion of responsibility, and the diffidence of many people to step forward (Latané & Darley, 1970; Staub, 1974). However, circumstances preceding collective violence are often more ambiguous. Perpetrators usually claim self-defense or other good reasons for what they do. When there is mob violence against a victim group, which often is instigated by authorities, participants and the authorities usually claim that it was the spontaneous response of the population to threat, danger, and violent actions by others.

In this spirit, perhaps, France sent troops to help the Rwandan government in 1990, when a small rebel group that called itself the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) entered the country from Uganda. This group consisted primarily of Tutsi refugees who had lived in Uganda since they escaped earlier waves of violence against Tutsis, beginning in 1959.