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Kenema is a city in eastern Sierra Leone. It is the third-largest city in the country with a population of 137,696 (2004 census). It grew along with a now-closed railway, around the logging and carpentry industries, and recently with diamond mines first discovered in 1931.
Since the renewed conflict in neighbouring Liberia of 1999 to 2003, Kenema and Bo Districts have been host to more than 60,000 Liberian refugees living in 8 camps as well as in the urban areas. They receive protection and assistance from the Government of Sierra Leone, represented by the National Commission for Social Action (NaCSA) and UNHCR,the UN Refugee Agency. The refugees fled intense fighting in their home areas, predominantly in Lofa and Grand Cape Mount Counties. From 1 October 2004 UNHCR began a programme of voluntary repatriation, assisting the refugees to return home whenever and wherever conditions permit.
Until the end of 2005 a large batallion of Pakistani peace-keeping troops was stationed in Kenema under the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone, UNAMSIL. The troops based in Kenema supported the Government of Sierra Leone in maintaining peace and stability in the Eastern Province following Sierra Leone's brutal 11-year civil war from 1990 to 2001 and in view of the unstable situation in neighbouring Liberia at that time.
Kenema and Bo are endemic areas for a highly contagious tropical hemorragic fever known as Lassa fever, and Kenema hospital is the centre of an international effort to combat the disease with support from the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNAMSIL. New laboratories to improve rapid diagnosis are being installed at the hospital, which admits between 250 and 500 suspected cases per year.
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