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| Olembe stadium in Yaounde-Cameroon. |
Cameroon conflict looms over Africa Cup of Nations venue. The STADIUM is located a few meters from the Atlantic ocean, with cool breeze and in a very clean city but what about the security here?
Droves of armored vehicles are patrolling the streets of Limbe in Cameroon's conflict-torn southwest region ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) soccer finals starting on January 9 that separatist militants have vowed to disrupt.
Cameroon is hosting the tournament in six cities, but security is potentially most at threat in Limbe, a city on the tropical Atlantic coast whose surrounding region has been rocked by armed attacks since war broke out in 2016.
The conflict, in which armed groups are trying to form a breakaway state called Ambazonia, has killed at least 3,000 people and forced nearly one million to flee. Violence has worsened this this past year as separatists increase their use of improvised explosives.
"My fear ... is that the recent phenomenon of bomb blasts which have been happening in other parts ... could be a common phenomenon during this AFCON period," said local journalist Honore Kuma.
Insecurity is just one issue facing the tournament. Concerns about the readiness of stadiums and the spread of the Omicron Covid-19 variant have also made headlines in recent weeks.
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