France, May 5 -- Survivors and human rights groups have criticised a recommendation by prosecutors in France to drop a 15-year case accusing senior French military officials of complicity in the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

Survivors of the June 1994 slaughter in the hills of Bisesero in western Rwanda accuseFrench troops of deliberately abandoning them to Hutu extremists, who subsequently murdered hundreds of local people in a matter of days.

An estimated 50,000 people were murdered in the Bisesero area during the 100-day killing frenzy.

French military commanders became the subjects of criminal investigation into complicity in genocide in December 2005 after complaints filed by survivors and human rights groups.

Earlier this week,prosecut...