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Cameroonians go to the polls on Sunday with Octogenian President Paul Biya seeking a seventh term in a context of unprecedented violence in the country's English-speaking regions.
The vote follows a last-minute offer by the unit to dislodge the 85-year-old outgoing president.
Two of the main opponents have formed the first electoral union since 1992, but talks between the broader opposition field to create a "super-coalition" to deprive Biya of another seven years would apparently have failed.
The 6.5 million Cameroonian voters will vote as the balance sheet continues to weigh in the Anglophone south-west and north-west, which were shaken by a separatist insurgency launched a year ago against a state. mainly French speaking.
The violence claimed the lives of at least 420 civilians, 175 members of the security forces and an indeterminate number of separatists, according to the International Crisis Group (ICG).
In Buea, the southwestern capital of the country, three separatists from the so-called Republic of Ambazonia were shot dead Friday while a priest was executed by soldiers on Thursday, witnesses said.
The extreme north is also plunged into insecurity, as Nigerian-based Boko Haram fighters launch attacks despite US efforts to equip and train Cameroonian soldiers to fight jihadists.
– "Massive Fraud". –
In a rare coordinated political maneuver, one of the main opposition leaders, Maurice Kamto, agreed on Friday night to sign a union agreement between his Movement for the Renaissance of Cameroon (MRC) and the People's Development Front (FDP). of both parties.
This is the first pre-election tactical rapprochement of its kind since John Fru Ndi, the only opposition candidate to participate in the polls in 1992, which his supporters claimed to win, but who would have been manipulated to give the victory to Biya.
But it is unclear whether the agreement on the eleventh hour was concluded in time to influence the vote that runs from 07:00 GMT to 17:00 GMT Sunday.
"This alliance, while interesting for the vitality of Cameroonian democracy, may have arrived too late," said ICG researcher Hans de Marie Heungoup.
The Kamto MRC warned that a "massive fraud" had been put in place to ensure a victory for Biya.
"We are not getting ready for the war, but wherever there is fraud, there will be a firm response," said MRC spokesman Paul-Eric Kingue.
But the government retaliated, apparently in response to the MRC, claiming that it "would not tolerate any disorder before, during or after the presidential vote".
The opposition has long accused the authorities of being employed to re-elect the president, highlighting the clever rallies of his party, his campaigns on social networks and his massive distribution of products bearing the Biya mark.
Despite the omnipresence of Biya's posters in Cameroon, he was virtually invisible during the campaign, with the exception of one event last weekend.
– we need dialogue & # 39; –
It is unclear whether elections will be held normally in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon, where separatists have a "significant" number of territories, according to the GCI, and have threatened to disrupt the vote.
In order to limit disruption of the polls, the authorities imposed strict security measures, including the suspension of all interregional road, rail and air travel from 17:00 GMT this Saturday.
International borders should also be sealed before polling day, announced a decree consulted by AFP.
"I hope the separatists and the government will be able to meet and dialogue – we need dialogue," said George Enow Orock, director of the Buea Regional Hospital, who is shaken by almost daily clashes .
Orock has seen between five and ten gunshot victims admitted every week since the start of the crisis, against an average of a year ago.
A total of 246,000 people fled their homes in the southwest and 25,000 left the country for Nigeria, according to UN figures.
Displaced people are thought to have difficulty voting, which could favor Biya, as Anglophones have traditionally supported the party of Social Democratic Party candidate Joshua Osih at the Social Democratic Front (SDF).
The results must be posted within 15 calendar days of the poll.
Cameroonian President Paul Biya (photographed with his wife Chantal Biya) made very few appearances in the election campaign
Opposition party candidate, Democratic Social Front (SDF), Joshua Osih, could be at the polls due to violence in English-speaking areas
In a rare coordinated political maneuver, one of the main opposition leaders, Maurice Kamto, agreed on Friday night to sign a unity agreement between his Movement for the Renaissance of Cameroon (MRC) and the People's Development Front (FDP).
President Paul Biya led the country for six terms
