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"The ICC wants to impact the political process in Sudan and the ongoing negotiations in Doha," Kamal Obeid, state minister for information, told AFP, referring to consultations with Darfur rebels in Qatar.

"If you look to the time of this process, it shows that the ICC wants to stop the political development in Sudan, but I believe it will help Sudanese to be more committed to the democratic transformation," he said.

The appeals chamber of the ICC ordered the pre-trial chamber to reconsider it decision to drop three charges of genocide when it issued an arrest warrant for Beshir in March last year on five counts of crimes against humanity and two of war crimes committed in Darfur.

The judges said that the standard of proof on which the pre-trial chamber rejected the genocide charges was too demanding.

They directed it to issue "a new decision using the correct standard of proof".

The decision came as Beshir briefly visited Doha to meet Qatari Emir Hamad Ben Khalifa al-Thani for talks that dealt with the Darfur peace process.

The Justice and Equality Movement has held two rounds of talks with Sudanese government officials.

A JEM official welcomed the appeal court's decision as a victory for "the population of Darfur and justice" but added that his group was still committed to the peace talks.

Other rebel groups have boycotted them.

A Sudanese official said on Sunday that Khartoum wanted the talks to conclude before a general election expected in April -- Sudan's first since 1986.

"Some groups are demanding more time. We have told mediators that time is running out and that negotiations must not exceed the third week of March," Sudanese Minister of Culture Amin Hassan Omar said in Doha.

Beshir, who seized power in a 1989 military coup, is to stand in the April election. Nine candidates are challenging him.

The United Nations says up to 300,000 people have died and 2.7 million fled their homes since the ethnic minority rebels in Darfur first rose up against the Arab-dominated Sudan government in February 2003.

Khartoum says 10,000 people have been killed.

The ICC has no means of its own to enforce the warrant for Beshir's arrest -- its first against a sitting head of state -- and relies on states to execute it. It cannot try Beshir in absentia.

Beshir has visited several countries, non-signatories to the ICC's founding Rome Statute, since the warrant was issued. Many African and Arab states along with Sudan's key ally China have called for the warrant to be suspended.

AFP