Darfur rebels welcome ICC genocide ruling

KHARTOUM | Wed Feb 3, 2010 5:22am EST

KHARTOUM Feb 3 (Reuters) - Darfur's most powerful rebel group on Wednesday welcomed the International Criminal Court's decision to open the door to genocide charges against Sudan's president, saying they would now reconsider taking part in peace talks.

"This is a correct decision," said the chief negotiator for the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) Ahmed Tugud. "We believe that what we have seen on the ground in Darfur amounts to a crime of genocide."

"Now we are assessing our situation on whether it is ethically possible to negotiate with a government accused of committing genocidal crimes against our people."

Tugod spoke by phone from Doha, where JEM has been holding on-off discussions with Khartoum which were supposed to pave the way to full peace talks.

(Reporting by Andrew Heavens)

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