CNN’s Clarissa Ward has revealed she and her team were held captive by a militia for two days while reporting in Darfur earlier this month.
The veteran correspondent, 44, traveled to Sudan to report on the civil war that has sparked a massive humanitarian crisis, with more 26 million facing famine.
But just hours after arriving in North Darfur, Ward and her team were detained by a militia led by by a man who went by ‘the general,’ as she wrote for CNN.
Ward, cameraman Scott McWhinnie and producer Brent Swails were inside a vehicle when they were surrounded by armed fighters who violently shouted at them to not film the scene.
As Ward’s producer Brent Swails tried to defuse the situation, the general grabbed ha rifle and fired off a round, apparently targeting a bird.
CNN ‘s Clarissa Ward has revealed she and her team were held captive by a militia for two days while reporting in Darfur. She is pictured smiling awkwardly with her cameraman Scott McWhinnie and one of their captors after they were told they would be released
Cameraman McWhinnie, Ward and producer Brent Swails were held captive for 48 hours
‘I was relieved that the gun wasn’t pointed at us but still disturbed by his erratic behavior,’ Ward wrote of the terrifying experience.
Ward had been invited to the town of Tawila by the SLM-AW – a faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement, which is a neutral party in the civil war.
Tawila is just 32 miles from the frontline of the war, in the city of El Fasher, so it has become a refuge for those fleeing the carnage.
However, when she and her team reached the agreed meeting spot in the town of Aby Gamra, they were met instead by the rival militia and two trucks carrying rocket propelled grenades and machine guns.
The team’s driver was taken away in chains to the town jail and the crew was interrogated, individually, for three hours in a ‘small, windowless room.’
The crew was met by the rival militia and two trucks carrying rocket propelled grenades and machine guns
The crew was then held for two days under the watch of armed men, some as young as 14
As the general shot his weapon again as he shouted at the crew, Ward pleaded with him, saying, ‘I am a mother. I have three little boys.’ She is seen with her sons
After the questioning, Ward and her team were bundled into their vehicle and ordered to follow a convoy that was heading deeper into Darfur.
As the general shot his weapon again as he shouted at the crew, Ward pleaded with him, saying, ‘I am a mother. I have three little boys.’
A security chief reported replied: ‘Don’t be frightened… We are human beings.’
The man then asked the CNN team for their loved ones’ phone numbers so he could assure them they were okay.
The militia then called the crew’s relatives and said they were safe, while threatening they could be held for many years if they spoke about the situation to anyone.
The crew was then held for two days under the watch of armed men, some as young as 14. Ward said she spent her time in captivity ‘out in the open, underneath acacia trees.’
Ward said she spent her time in captivity ‘out in the open, underneath acacia trees’
The UN estimates that 20,000 people have been killed and thousands injured since the conflict began. The war has also displaced over 10 million people, including 2.4 million who fled to neighboring countries and other nations. A displaced Sudanese woman rests inside a shelter at Zamzam camp, in North Darfur
‘As the only woman, and with no private space to relieve myself, I limited my water and food intake,’ Ward wrote of her time in the militia’s custody.
‘Sleep, when it came, was a mercy, a reprieve from the clawing sense of panic at not knowing when I would be able to see my children again.’
Thankfully, after 48 hours, the general informed the CNN team that they would be let go, with the general saying, ‘We thought you were spies but now you can go home.’
‘A wave of relief crashed through my body,’ Ward said. ‘There were smiles and handshakes with our captors. We posed awkwardly for a photograph at the edge of the mat that had been our makeshift prison.’
The crew was relieved to be freed, but they never made it to Tawila, their original destination.
War between the Sudanese military and the Rapid Support Forces broke out in April 2023 in the capital, Khartoum, and has spread across the country. Darfur has seen particularly intense fighting.
The UN estimates that 20,000 people have been killed and thousands injured since the conflict began.
The war has also displaced over 10 million people, including 2.4 million who fled to neighboring countries and other nations.
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