President Emmanuel Macron has said that France and other countries could have stopped the 1994 Rwandan genocide, where ethnic Hutu extremists killed more than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
“France, which could have stopped the genocide with its Western and African allies, lacked the will to do so,” Mr Macron said in a video message.
The video is set to be aired during the 30th commemoration of the Rwandan genocide on Sunday, President Macron’s office said.
The event is set to be attended by several international guests including French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné and ex-US President Bill Clinton.
Relations between France and Rwanda have recently been on the mend, following years of tensions over France’s alleged involvement in the genocide.
France has been accused of failing to do enough to stop the Rwanda genocide. French leaders have denied its complicity in the genocide.
However, in a 2021 visit to Rwanda, Mr Macron said that France had a duty to “recognise the suffering she has inflicted on the Rwandan people by too long valuing silence over the examination of the truth”.