French President Emmanuel Macron says France and its allies “could have stopped” the 1994 Rwanda genocide and “lacked the will to do so”.

Mr Macron’s office said in a statement that the French president will release a video on social media on Sunday as Rwanda commemorates the 30th anniversary of the genocide.

In the video, Mr Macron says that “France, which could have stopped the genocide with its Western and African allies, lacked the will to do so”.

In 2021 during a visit to the central African country, Mr Macron acknowledged France’s “responsibility” in the genocide that left over 800,000 people dead, mainly ethnic Tutsis and the Hutus who tried to protect them.