CNN Reporter Clarissa Ward and Crew Held Hostage by Militia in Darfur, Accused of Being ‘Spies’

CNN correspondent Clarissa Ward has shared her harrowing experience of being held captive by a militia for two days while reporting in Darfur earlier this month.

The 44-year-old veteran war correspondent travelled to Sudan to cover the ongoing civil war, which has led to a severe humanitarian crisis affecting over 26 million people at risk of famine.

CNN’s Clarissa Ward with her cameraman Scott McWhinnie and one of their captors after they were told they would be released.

In an essay for CNN, Ward detailed how she and her team were detained shortly after arriving in North Darfur. They were in a vehicle when armed fighters surrounded them and angrily ordered them not to film.

Her producer, Brent Swails, attempted to defuse the situation, but the militia leader, known only as “the general,” brandished a rifle and fired a shot—allegedly targeting a bird.

“I was relieved that the gun wasn’t pointed at us but still disturbed by his erratic behaviour,” Ward recounted, reflecting on the frightening encounter.

Ward had been invited to Tawila by a faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement, a neutral group in the civil war. However, upon reaching the agreed meeting point in Aby Gamra, they were confronted by a rival militia equipped with trucks loaded with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns.

The crew’s driver was taken away in chains, and Ward and her team were interrogated individually for three hours in a small, windowless room.

After the questioning, they were ordered to follow a convoy deeper into Darfur. In desperation, Ward pleaded with the general, stating, “I am a mother. I have three little boys.”

A security chief assured them not to be afraid and requested their loved ones’ phone numbers to confirm their safety. The militia then contacted the crew’s relatives, informing them they were unharmed but warning that they could be held for years if they disclosed their situation to anyone.

Ward said she and her team were detained by a militia led by a man who went by the moniker “the general” just hours after arriving in North Darfur.

Ward described being held for two days under the watch of armed men, some as young as 14.

Finally, after 48 hours, the general announced their release, stating, “We thought you were spies, but now you can go home.”

Pictured: CNN’s Clarissa Ward in Ukraine in November 2019.

After 48 hours, the general informed the CNN team that they would be let go, 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 conflict between the Sudanese military and the Rapid Support Forces erupted in April 2023 in Khartoum and has since spread throughout the country, with Darfur experiencing particularly fierce fighting. The UN estimates that around 20,000 people have been killed and thousands more injured since the conflict began.