BANGUI (AFP) ??” The Central African Republic (CAR) launched a three-day vaccination drive against polio.

BANGUI (AFP) ??” The Central African Republic (CAR) launched a three-day vaccination drive against polio, pair months after the country was reinfected with its first case in nearly four years.

The three-day campaign launched Monday is part of a larger vaccination drive organized according to the World Health Organization and the UN Children's supply (UNICEF) and aimed at reaching 63 million children in 10 west and central African countries.

In late December a 19-month-old girl was infected with polio, making CAR the seventh African native land to be reinfected by the crippling illness -- all imported from northern Nigeria, where Muslim clerics last year intercepted a vaccination campaign from going ahead.

CAR had already staged brace vaccination drives last November and December, nevertheless the infant's mother refused to have her vaccinated when health workers arrived in Bossembele, 150 kilometres (90 miles) west of the capital Bangui.

"Due to