victim to donor fatigue. In the early phase of the war, this border district functioned as host for a large number of internally displaced persons and transit zones for refugees. Later in the war, it became an operational zone and no-man's land for fighters of various factions. During the last year of the war and the disarmament period, it became the station for thousands of International peacekeeping forces (ECOMOG and UNAMSIL). Similarly the neighbouring district of Forecariah has been host to over 210,000 officially registered refugees (residing in 10 camps) during the civil conflict. Over 60% of these refugees originated from the Kambia district. It is estimated that more than 90% of them have now returned to their various communities in the district. Secondly, in addition to the domestic war, most of the heavy fighting between the Guinean troops and the rebels to dislodge the invading rebel forces from Guinea occurred in the district. As a result, the district suffered one of the highest rates of population displacement and possibly the worst infrastructure destruction. It is also significant to note that, the rebel invasion of Kambia town in 1995 was one of the first occasions in which children were abducted in large numbers since all the schools were in session when the town was invaded. Most of these children are now young adults and have returned to the community without passing through any formal demobilisation process and with very little resettlement and social reintegration support. A major consideration is that the large majority of these young people are unemployed. A small proportion of them survive on occasional casual labour opportunities as porters, cleaners and dancers. But by far their most important sources of survival are the smuggling of goods, mostly drugs, alcohol, cigarettes and light arms across the border, juvenile delinquencies, and as sex workers and concubines of the large number of national armies, peace-keeping forces, Para-militaries and long distance travellers. Since the end of the war in both countries early 2002, the district has witnessed regular and large-scale movements of people across the border. The reasons include the return of thousands of refugees and visits by relatives. But by far the most important factor is the rapid revival of the cross-border trade in the traditional weekly market towns and villages on both sides of the border. These markets, traditionally known as ‘Loumah’ have increased from 5 in the pre-war