Blaze halts Milosevic trial

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- Slobodan Milosevic's trial at the war crimes tribunal in The Hague has been halted for 24 hours after a fire broke out in the cafeteria.

The former Yugoslav president was whisked back to the detention centre where he has been held since his transfer in June 2001 to the Hague as the tribunal building was evacuated on Tuesday.

The trial for crimes against humanity will resume on Wednesday, a tribunal spokesman said

The fire broke out in a deep fat fryer on the second floor of the building, the spokesman said, but no injuries were reported.

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Hundreds of officials, visitors and journalists were evacuated from the tribunal building after the fire disturbance.

Milosevic is on trial at the International War Crimes Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia on 66 charges for war crimes and genocide during Yugoslavia's violent breakup in the 1990s.

"There will be no Milosevic hearing today," tribunal spokesman Jim Landal told Reuters.

The Milosevic trial would resume on Wednesday although other hearings at the United Nations-mandated tribunal were set to resume later on Tuesday.

About half a dozen firemen in protective clothing, helmets, oxygen tanks and masks tackled the fire.

Part of the main road outside the front of the tribunal building was sealed off. Damage was minor, officials said.

U.N. prosecutors said on Monday they would call their highest-profile witness yet against Milosevic as his trial heard of Serb "fascist genocide" and refugees enduring conditions "like concentration camps."

Former British politician Paddy Ashdown, Bosnia's next peace envoy, is due to testify next week against the former Yugoslav and Serb leader, prosecutors said without giving details.