Bamenda, Cameroon – On the day of Cameroon’s last presidential election in October 2018, then-16-year-old Annie Nsalla* watched from her sitting-room window as Anglophone separatist fighters wreaked havoc in the streets of Bamenda, firing gunshots and threatening voters to deter them from reaching polling stations.
It was the first time an election was taking place since armed conflict erupted in the English-speaking minority North West and South West regions in 2016.
As people rushed away in panic, Nsalla dropped to the floor to avoid stray bullets, slowly crawling to the safety of her bedroom.
The violence she witnessed that day left a scar, she says, with the trauma still etched in her memory.
During the nearly decade-long conflict, Nsalla has also lost at least three relatives to the “difficult circumstances”, she says, referring to the armed violence in her part of the North West.
But her hope for a better country brought Nsalla – now finally of voting age – out to register in July as she plans to make her mark in Sunday’s presidential polls.
“I am not doing anything wrong. I want to vote,” the 23-year-old told Al Jazeera, “but I do not know if I will vote,” she admitted, fearing a repeat of 2018.
“We live in constant fear that something will happen on that day,” Nsalla said.
“We feel like we have restrictions from both parties. On one hand, there is the lack of security guarantee from government forces to move around, and on the other hand, Amba boys [a local name for separatist fighters] threaten us.”
Anti-government demonstrators block a road in Bamenda, Cameroon in December 2016 [File/Reuters]
‘We don’t know what to expect’
Nsalla’s fears are echoed by others in Bamenda, the capital of the North West, and also in the South West, another region that has seen years of tensions and violence.
For decades, Anglophone citizens in the two regions complained of marginalisation by the mainly French-speaking government in Yaounde. This escalated when separatist fighters began squaring off against government forces several years ago.
Since the crisis erupted, separatists have also blocked the Anglophone population from participating in government-organised activities, such as National Day celebrations and elections. They have enforced boycotts and lockdowns and ordered people to stay indoors on such occasions, as they have also done in the run-up to this month’s vote.
Eve Suh*, another hopeful first-time voter, lives in Alahbukan neighbourhood of Bamenda – one of the “red zones”, or places the government labels as insecurity hot spots.
According to Suh, barely a month goes by without gunshots and confrontations between separatist fighters and government forces.
The same scenario also occurs in other red zone neighbourhoods like Ntankar, where residents say frequent gun battles, arrests, and kidnappings are also rampant.
It is against this backdrop that some voters are on the fence about the weekend’s polls.
Suh told Al Jazeera that some people are hesitant to even talk about the election for fear of being targeted by separatist fighters.
“No one knows who is going to vote and where. There are spies around. Everyone is scared of dying or [being] kidnapped by the boys,” she said, referring to the fighters.
“It is a critical moment but I have no idea what it is going to be like. How do I go out to vote on that day without being shot?” Suh wondered.
“Some of us are trapped. If the lockdown persists, how do you go out? How do we vote? How do you decide who runs this country and potentially stop the violence?”
According to media reports from the 2018 polls, more than 20 separatist fighters paraded through the streets of Bamenda to intimidate voters on election day.
Two separatist fighters were also shot dead by the military after attacks on polling centres at the time, the reports said.
At the time, more than 2,300 polling stations were selected in the North West for the presidential election. But security threats reduced the number to 74.
This year, according to data published this week by Elections Cameroon (ELECAM), the North West has 596 polling stations and potentially 135,974 voters, while the South West has 1,908 polling stations and about 405,823 voters.
A man casts his ballot at a polling station during the presidential election in Yaounde, Cameroon in 2018 [File: Zohra Bensem/Reuters]
Biya eyes another term
As Cameroonians across the country plan to vote in a new president, incumbent Paul Biya, age 92 and the world’s oldest leader, is eyeing an eighth term in office.
He joins 11 other candidates on the starting block. Among them are two former government ministers: Issa Tchiroma Bakary and Bello Bouba Maigari.
While he was minister of communications under Biya, Bakary publicly stated that there was no Anglophone crisis. But in the run-up to this election, he visited Bamenda during his campaign and apologised for his past words.
“I understand that many of you suffered about the statement. You felt injured, but I also suffered because I had no choice,” he said, also pledging to secure the release and amnesty of political prisoners if he wins the election.
Maigari, a former state minister for tourism, also visited Bamenda during the election campaign, promising that if he wins, he will hold a dialogue with separatist leaders to work towards lasting peace.
Biya came to power in 1982 when the country’s first president, Ahmadou Ahidjo, resigned. A new mandate will see him hold power for nearly 50 years.
The Anglophone crisis began under Biya in 2016, starting with peaceful protests by English-speaking lawyers and teachers against the central government’s imposition of French-speaking judges and administrators in their schools and courts.
The demonstrations soon spread to include ordinary people calling for Anglophone independence, until, in 2017, government security forces launched a violent crackdown on protesters.
This added to years of Anglophone resentment over being a neglected and marginalised minority. The anger soon morphed into violence between government forces and separatist groups fighting for a breakaway state of Ambazonia. And the violence has not ceased.
The Norwegian Refugee Council in its latest report in June said Cameroon is now the site of the world’s most neglected displacement crisis.
According to Human Rights Watch, at least 6,000 civilians have been killed by both government forces and armed separatist fighters in the North West and South West since late 2016.
According to the United States Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, instability in the North West and South West has caused more than 900,000 people fleeing violence to become internally displaced and 60,000 others to flee abroad.
Burnt-out vehicles are scattered throughout the South West region, a testament to the area’s unrest [Beng Emmanuel Kum/Al Jazeera]
New election, same fate?
When the 2018 presidential elections took place, only a fraction of residents voted in the restive Anglophone regions despite high voter interest.
Voting statistics suggest that the activities of armed groups affected turnout: In the North West, only 5.36 percent of people voted, while in the South West, the turnout was 15.94 percent.
Jeremy Fru*, a father in his 40s and a native of Bamenda, told Al Jazeera that despite the insecurity, he went out to vote in 2018.
But he says the crisis has now reached new and extreme levels, meaning he faces the “risk of not participating”.
“It is hard to tell if one can step out [and vote] like in 2018,” he said.
“We have been forced to stay indoors for days [due to lockdowns imposed by separatist fighters].”
Back in 2018, the situation was “different” and threats now seem to have increased, Fru said.
“The situation has gone from bad to worse,” he lamented, adding that close to a decade of separatists using guns to try and bring change has not been successful.
“I want to see change through the ballot box. It didn’t occur in 2018, but it can this year,” he said, emphasising that elections are the only way the Biya government can be overcome.
An aerial view of Buea, in South West Cameroon [Beng Emmanuel Kum/Al Jazeera]
‘Holding hearts in hands’
According to Tilarius Atia, a political scientist based in Bamenda, the security situation in the North West is “very challenging”.
Atia told Al Jazeera that separatist groups are multiplying their tactics and for the most part taking security forces unaware.
“In 2018, the firepower of the non-state armed group was not as strong as it is today. They have gone into sophisticated explosive devices and we do not know to what extent they may go on election day,” he warned.
“It will be a day of ballots and bullets,” the analyst said of the election in the Anglophone regions. “Voters will have to make the choice whether to cast their ballots under the bullets or they keep their ballots at home and stay safe from the bullets.”
Voters in the region are “holding their hearts in their hands and waiting to see how it will turn out”, Atia said.
But he also advised the separatist groups to understand that nothing will change if they prevent people from voting.
“For the past nine years, they have been using their guns and bullets and nothing has changed; but then if they want change, I think change can come from the ballot box,” Atia stressed.
Stephen Echuchou, a peace and conflict resolution expert based in Buea, the capital of the South West region, agrees.
Echuchou, director of the NGO the Center for Peace and Sustainable Development in Africa, told Al Jazeera that although the South West is experiencing “a volatile security situation”, the North West is “in total chaos”.
Both have been under a lockdown imposed by the separatist groups for about three weeks now. But experts say the North West has borne the brunt of the crisis, experiencing years of heightened violence and stricter lockdowns.
“The insecurity will hamper the voter turnout. There are places where the non-state armed group has a grip, and their activities are there. And in these localities, the people will not be able to vote,” Echuchou said.
“There are so many people who would have loved to vote, and they will not. If the security situation is OK, the population will exercise their political rights; if not, they will protect their lives.”
Echuchou also urged the national government to address the conflict once and for all.
“We need to ensure that the security is guaranteed before, during and after the election for voters – and guarantee free, fair elections,” he said.
Meanwhile in Bamenda, Nsalla says that despite the risks, she is determined to make her way to the polls on Sunday – even as she hopes she will one day be able to do so without a sense of fear.
“I wonder,” she said, “if some of us will be able to vote one day freely like our brothers and sisters in other regions.”
*Names have been changed for security reasons.
