Cameroonians will elect a new president on Sunday. But in the restive North West and South West regions, many are torn between civic duty and safety concerns.

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.