Escalating violence in Cameroon will threaten the safety of Premier League stars when the African Cup of Nations begins next month, human rights activists have warned.
The African showcase includes 24 teams from across the continent and is set to open on January 9, but there are now calls for it to be postponed because of the conflict.
The competition is likely to feature more than 40 players from the English top flight, including Thomas Partey, Nicolas Pepe and Mohamed Elneny, from Arsenal; Trezeguet from Aston Villa; Chelsea's Edouard Mendy; Manchester City's Riyad Mahrez and the Liverpool trio of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Naby Keita.
Despite the growing fear that teams and the tournament could be targeted in an increasingly bitter and violent conflict, there is no sign that the event will be postponed or even the plans changed to reduce the risk.
Most of the discussion surrounding the tournament has focused on the release date for Europe's elite players and the risk of contracting Covid.
This week, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) President Patrice Motsepe met with Cameroon President Paul Biya and insisted the showpiece would go ahead as planned.
However, human rights organisations have told Sportsmail they believe there is a real risk for players and staff and the tournament should be postponed, or at the very least, matches moved from the South West region, which is considered the most dangerous.
Violence first flared four years ago between separatist groups in the English speaking west of the Central African country, known as the 'anglophone zone', and the Government of the largely French speaking, francophone, Cameroon.
The conflict has intensified dramatically this year and human rights activists say there have been 80 bombs detonated in the anglophone region since January, and there have been many deaths, including policemen, soldiers, civilians and a five-year-old girl.
A large area of south west Cameroon is now under a night-time curfew.
Even the Afcon mascot, Mola the lion, wore a bullet-proof vest over his Cameroon strip as he toured the conflicted region last week. Mola, which is a convivial name, meaning friend, elder or uncle, was escorted by a detachment of troops.
'There are now mounting calls to delay the AFCON competition until the warring parties call for a ceasefire and enter peace negotiations,' Rebecca Tinsley, a human rights researcher and a member of the Global Campaign for Peace and Justice in Cameroon told Sportsmail.
'We are saying postpone the tournament because all of this threat could be removed if the government just said, 'yes, we will have peace talks'.
There appears to be little chance of that with the Government determined to show no weakness in the face of the threat from its South West and North West regions.
One of the six tournament stadiums, Limbe, is the only one located in the contested 'anglophone zone', although, two more at Bafoussam and Douala are hard on its borders and it is feared they could also be targeted.
'There is a real risk of… attacks in all AFCON venues, especially in Limbe,' observed Tinsley.
With a capacity of 20,000, the Limbe Stadium is set to host six group matches. Among the six teams due to play in the group stage in Limbe, 190 miles from the capital, Yaounde, are Mali, for whom Brighton's Yves Bissouma and Southampton's Moussa Djenepo, are expected to play.
However, the town is also slated for two round of 16 games, which could see any four of the 24 participating countries forced to play in the conflict hotspot.
'English clubs should be really cautious about sending their players into a very unstable situation. There are real dangers,' Tinsley added.
'You only have to look at the record of the armed militias and separatist groups. They have exploded more 80 improvised explosive devices and they are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their tactics.
'This should alarm any football club thinking of sending players into the region.'
The European Club Association has already written to the CAF, but predominantly to highlight the risks of Covid and threatening to block the release of players.
However, those with knowledge of the country suggest conflict and violence is a far greater concern.
Threats have appeared widely online warning the Cameroon authorities not to play matches in the west of the country, an area the separatists call, Ambazonia.
And separatists warn players not to come.
One commentator, Mark Bareta, an author and activist for the cause, based in Belgium, who describes himself in his Twitter profile as 'standing for the people of the Former British Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia)' posts warnings on Twitter and celebrates the defeat of Government soldiers.
'Cameroun is at war with Ambazonia,' he wrote in one post. 'Players taking part do so at their own risks.'
In another post on his Twitter account, which has 19,000 followers, Bareta wrote: 'All visitors are called upon not to risk their lives to travel to Ambazonia.'
Human rights activists insist the threats are not just sabre rattling, they are real and the separatists will do whatever they can to breach security at stadiums, hotels and restaurants to abduct a player.
'They are incredibly serious,' one human rights activist, who did not want to be named, told Sportsmail. 'They see this as their one opportunity when the world's media will be in their neighbourhood.
'They use terror and intimidation. Kidnapping and IEDs. And they are serious about disrupting the tournament, because they know it would bring attention.
'All of this would be manageable if government forces were competent, but they are not.'
In January, the Limbe Stadium was targeted during the African Nations Championship, a smaller competition that features players from Africa's domestic leagues. Vehicles were blown up in the vicinity of the arena.
One of the epi-centres of the conflict is the city of Buea, less than 13 miles from Limbe.
Improvised explosive devices have been increasingly used during the last year, particularly in the last two months, as the violence has stepped up.
A bomb was thrown into a lecture theatre at the University of Buea injuring eleven students, another killed a taxi driver, while a child, Caro Louise Ndialle, 5, was shot dead by a policeman in October, who was then lynched by a mob in the riot that followed.
As tensions spiralled, a civilian was shot dead by police and separatists, who often turn on their own people if they consider them not to be loyal to the cause, have reportedly hijacked public buses, beating and torturing the passengers.
Further west, in the town of Ekondo Tiki, gunmen attacked a school in November killing three students and a teacher.
A little more than 50 miles from Buea, just outside the anglophone zone, is the French-speaking town of Douala, where the 50,000 capacity Japoma Stadium will host Ivory Coast in the competition's groups stages.
The Elephants announced their squad on Thursday and it includes Manchester United's Eric Bailly, Burnley's Maxwel Cornet, Crystal Palace's Wilfried Zaha, Wolves' Willy Boly and Arsenal's Nicolas Pepe.
The North West region of Cameroon, which borders the South West, is also racked by violence, with Amnesty International documenting horrific abuses by separatists and the army, including killings, beheadings and the destruction of home and property.
It was here in the North West town of Bamenda that Mola the Lion was photographed in his bullet proof vest.
Just across another regional border and only 50 miles down the road, is a third host stadium at Bafoussam. The Kouekong Stadium, which holds 20,000 spectators, will host Senegal, whose squad boasts further array of European-based stars.
Among them are Liverpool's Sadio Mane, Chelsea's Edouard Mendy, Crystal Palace's Cheikhou Kouyaté, Leicester City's Nampalys Mendy and Watford's Ismaila Sarr
Human Rights Watch has documented many of the abuses in western Cameroon, which have led to the exodus of 700,000 people, who fled to neighbouring countries.
The group has serious concerns over safety at Afcon, particularly in relation to Limbe, and it believes no games should be played there. Human Rights Watch would like to see those matches relocated to a safer location.
'[We] documented incidents of violence in the South West region and the state of Cameroon and CAF have a responsibility for ensuring the safety of the tournament, stadiums, players and officials,' said Ilaria Allegrozzi, a senior researcher for Human Rights Watch, who specialises in Cameroon.
'If the determination is made that any of the locations in the South West state are a substantial risk those games can be moved to another venue, which is safer,' she told Sportsmail.
Before adding: 'No game should be played in the Anglophone regions,'
However, despite its concerns, Human Rights Watch does not support further postponement of the tournament. In 2019, Cameroon was not ready to host and the Afcon, which was relocated to Egypt. It returned to Cameroon in 2021, but it has been delayed from the summer because of the coronavirus pandemic.
'The tournament is a celebration of African football,' said Allegrozzi. 'The [European] clubs and others should take this opportunity to learn more about the country and the situation in the anglophone regions.
'Let's talk about Cameroon but in a different way, not by excluding Cameroon from the Afcon, not delaying or cancelling, but reflecting what is going on in the country, the suffering, the displacement, the humanitarian crisis.'