YAOUNDE, Cameroon – Rudulf Arrey took part in a campaign rally the other day in Cameroon, knowing that a simple act of civic curiosity could kill him.

Separatists who have declared an English-speaking state have threatened people who roam the streets, as well as government security forces trying to maintain order, told The Associated Press, 24, in the city. Mamfe, in the Southwest region.

"If you are caught, they may kill you," he said of the scattered and dissident forces of separatists who swore to disrupt Sunday's presidential election. Meanwhile, patrols of security personnel "are sometimes … very hostile to people around you"

Still, Arrey came out because he wanted to know more about the vow of the ruling party: the long-time president, Paul Biya, the oldest 85-year-old African leader, will be the one who will solve the crisis.

The growing struggle against language in an officially bilingual country has killed about 400 people and sent more than 200,000 people fleeing the southwestern and northwestern regions of Cameroon. The bodies are in the forest. The schools were burned or closed.

What began two years ago as protests by English-speaking teachers and lawyers against what they called the marginalization of French-speaking Francophones became lethal after the fall of the government. The separatists emerged, encouraged by some members of the Cameroonian diaspora, including the United States.

Then marginal groups became violent, clashing with security forces who were a close ally of the United States in regional counterterrorism efforts, but who are accused of human rights violations. The panicked civilians are caught in the middle.

The result of Sunday's election should not be a surprise. The opposition could not join a challenger. Biya should easily defeat his opponents and keep control of the office he entered in 1982.

But while 6.6 million Cameroonians are registered on the electoral lists, the empty streets of the English-speaking regions herald a victory with a weakened mandate. One-fifth of the vast majority of the French-speaking nation is English-speaking and many can no longer go to the polls.

The Democratic Movement of the People of Cameroon, in power, tried to campaign as usual in the affected areas, organizing several rallies, but Biya never appeared. According to the party, at least eight of its leaders were kidnapped and some of its supporters attacked.

An exasperated opposition leader, Mefire Ousmanou, of the party of the Democratic Union of Cameroon in the south-west of the country, said the violence was intensifying day by day.

Biya should open the dialogue instead of using force, he said. "The government should have encouraged reconciliation."

The government insists that the elections will be held throughout the country and that "those who are trying to organize chaos may be unreasonably surprised," the door was said on Twitter. of the country, Issa Tchiroma Bakary.

It's a hard promise to keep. The armed separatists, who number more than 1,000, would have hardened over time. They had previously avoided targeting civilians, but were recently accused of attacking schools as well as anyone suspected of giving information to them to the security forces.

Launching a ballot is considered a chance.

"The armed separatists have promised to disrupt the elections by any means and even if they do not, I am not sure that the majority of the English-speaking population will vote," said Hans de Marie Heungoup, Senior Analyst. Central African Republic at the International. Crisis group. "Although they do not support violence by armed separatist groups, they are more sensitive to ideology".

Even if people want to vote, the law requires them to do it where they are registered. Many Cameroonians are now taking refuge outside the affected areas in places such as the nearby city of Douala.

Meanwhile, more than 230,000 people are displaced in the Far North region of the country due to another security threat emanating from Boko Haram extremists based in neighboring Nigeria.

"Up to now, the government and the electorate have not made it clear what they intended to put in place for these people to vote," Heungoup said. "There is confusion."

While the international community insisted Sunday that US Secretary-General Antonio Guterres calls "a peaceful, credible and inclusive process," the main observers of Western elections such as the European Union will be absent.

Many of the remaining observers, including the African Union, said they would not carry out their work in the southwestern and northwestern troubled because of the crisis.