Cameroon has been stripped of the right to host next year’s Africa Cup of Nations after serious delays with its preparations and in the midst of a violent separatist rebellion near two planned venues.

The Confederation of African Football made the decision on Friday after a meeting of its executive committee. Its president, Ahmad Ahmad, announced a new bidding process was to be opened.

Countries have until the end of December to submit bids for the tournament, which starts in June.

Morocco, which lost out to a joint United States-Canada-Mexico bid for the 2026 World Cup, has been touted as a replacement host.

CAF said in September that there was a “significant delay” with the building of stadiums and related infrastructure but gave Cameroon a final chance by planning two more inspection visits in October.

One of those was to assess the security situation after an escalation in violence in the south-west and north-west of the country involving English-speaking separatists and government forces.

Cameroon won the most recent Africa Cup of Nations in 2017.