Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and Kosovo ethnic Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova have clashed for a second day in testimony before the Hague war crimes tribunal. 

Mr. Milosevic, who faces a total of 66 charges of war crimes and genocide arising from the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s, sought to portray the Kosovo conflict as an effort by ethnic Albanian nationalists to create a greater Albania. Mr. Rugova, who is now president of Kosovo, insisted that ethnic Albanians in the Serbian province only sought to protect themselves against Yugoslav government repressions. 

In cross-examining Mr. Rugova, Mr. Milosevic highlighted the rivalry between the Kosovo ethnic Albanian leader and the Kosovo Liberation Army, the Albanian guerrilla group that fought government forces in the Serbian province. The former Yugoslav leader insisted that Mr. Rugova had sought the protection of Belgrade authorities from possible assassination attempts by the guerrillas. Mr. Rugova denied making such a request, saying he did not need protection. He insisted that Yugoslav forces kept him under house arrest during NATO's 1999 airstrike campaign against Yugoslavia. NATO launched the campaign in response to the Kosovo crisis. 

Mr. Rugova also repeatedly rejected efforts by Mr. Milosevic to portray the ethnic Albanian guerrilla group as a terrorist organization. He said the group had only sought to defend members of the ethnic Albanian community in Kosovo who were being massacred by Yugoslav authorities. 

An estimated 800,000 ethnic Albanians fled the province in early 1999 as government troops rampaged through Kosovo. Mr. Milosevic sought to portray the exodus as residents fleeing NATO bombings. 

Mr. Rugova was elected as the first president of the United Nations-administered province in March. 

Some information for this report provided by AP and AFP.

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