A Senegalese court on Wednesday rejected a Belgium request to extradite former Chad president Hissene Habre to Belgium to stand trial for alleged atrocities while he was in power.

The decision of the Dakar appeals court comes days after President Abdoulaye Wade said he would back sending Habre to Belgium for trial under a law enabling it to judge acts committed outside its borders. Habre has lived in exile in Senegal since he was ousted in 1990.

The court said in a statement it rejected the request for procedural reasons including that "the copy of the international arrest warrant submitted to the dossier was not authentic".

Senegal is under growing pressure to allow Habre to face justice, with the African Union recently urging it to either try the former leader itself or send him to a country that would.

Habre, 69, who was ousted in a coup by current President Idriss Deby, has been accused of thousands of killings and other atrocities during his eight-year rule of the Central African state.