Al-Bashir has denied ICC prosecutors' charges of committing war crimes in Darfur [EPA]

The court in The Hague charged Bashir with war crimes and crimes against humanity in March for allegedly orchestrating a campaign of murder and torture in Darfur.

But it said in a ruling on Tuesday that there was insufficient evidence to prove he was also guilty of waging genocide.

Prosecutors said on Tuesday the judges who rejected the charges were wrong in applying "an evidentiary burden that is inappropriate for this procedural stage".

They said the tribunal only needed to prove that there are "reasonable grounds to believe" al-Bashir was responsible for genocide.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the chief prosecutor at the ICC, also called for the case to be sent back to the ICC's pre-trial chamber.

'Complex process'

Mark Ellis, the chairman of the International Bar Association, said that charging an individual with genocide was a "complex legal process".

"It requires the prosecutors to prove the individual had a specific intent to destroy an ethnic group," he said.

"Whether or not the prosecutor is successful really will have no bearing on the case itself. It will move forward."

Al-Bashir has denied the prosecution's allegations and has refused to recognise the court's jurisdiction.

Leaders of the African Union said on Friday they would no longer co-operate with the ICC and would not arrest and extradite the Sudanese president.

Al-Bashir was indicted over his alleged role in the conflict in Darfur, which the UN says has displaced an estimated 2.7 million people.

The UN says up to 300,000 people have died since the conflict began in 2003 between ethnic minority rebels and the Sudanese government.

Sudan's government disputes the figures, saying 10,000 people have been killed.

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