CEASEFIRE TO ALLOW VACCINATIONS

AFGHANISTAN: Misna; Yesterday, international Day of Peace, the Afghan government and the Taliban have agreed to put down their weapons to allow a group oif over 10,000 health workers to reach the southern and eastern parts of the country in order to vaccinate 1.3 million children against polio.

The accord was achieved thanks to the intervention of Unicef and the WHO, to which the Taliban have promised “the maximum collaboration” to bring the project to conclusion, because the reigning insecurity has meant that many of the areas reached had never been touched by the previous vaccination campaigns.

According to the Unicef and WHO websites, the Taliban said that all the rebels had been ordered to protect the staff performing the vaccinations.

Yesterday, the UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon asked for a 24-hour long truce to stop all conflicts in the world, such that peace is no long a priority but a passion. [AB]