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UNITED NATIONS—The Security Council examined the role of natural resources such as diamonds, poppies and oil in driving conflicts and destabilizing nations, angering some countries that accused the U.N.'s most powerful body of trying to undermine their sovereignty.

The council followed up the debate Monday with a statement saying U.N. missions and peacekeeping operations should assist governments, if asked, in preventing the illegal exploitation of natural resources by parties to the conflict.

Good management and governance of natural resources are essential to worldwide peace and stability, said council president Karel de Gucht, Belgium's foreign minister.

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UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The Security Council examined the role of natural resources such as diamonds, poppies and oil in driving conflicts and destabilizing nations, angering some countries that accused the U.N.'s most powerful body of trying to undermine their sovereignty. The council followed up the debate Monday with a statement saying U.N. missions and peacekeeping operations should assist governments, if asked, in preventing the illegal exploitation of natural resources by parties to the...

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From 1991 to 2002 a civil war wracked the West African nation of Sierra Leone. The death, mayhem and destruction forced hundreds of thousands of residents to flee, many to the north, to refugee camps in Guinea.

It was in one such camp that a handful of musicians from Freetown, their nations capital, found one another and began to play together using the few simple instruments at hand. They called themselves Sierra Leones Refugee All Stars. Their leader, Reuben Koroma, says at the outset of this film which is to be shown tonight on the PBS series P.O.V. in concert with World Refugee Day, which was observed last Wednesday that it is through their music that they could begin to regain some control over their lives.

More than that, the musicians give voice to the experience and the deprivations: Some lost their families; some lost their limbs, hacked off by rebels. And beyond the poverty, they describe the purgatory of the camps, not knowing when the days of living far from home will end or what will be found on their return.

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THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) Former Liberian President Charles Taylor boycotted his war crimes trial again Monday, drawing an accusation from a prosecutor that he was manipulating the process from his jail cell.

Because Taylor has fired his court-funded lawyer, he was not represented in court, forcing judges to adjourn the trial until July 3, when the first prosecution witness is due to testify. The court will appoint temporary defense counsel.

As he did at the trials opening three weeks ago, Taylor stayed in his cell and complained that he lacked the funds to mount an adequate defense against charges of arming Sierra Leone rebels and orchestrating a murderous terror campaign during that countrys 10-year civil war.

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