In a shocking revelation, CNN’s Clarissa Ward has recounted the terrifying ordeal where she and her team were held captive by a militia in Darfur for two days while reporting on Sudan’s brutal civil war. Ward, along with cameraman Scott McWhinnie and producer Brent Swails, was surrounded by heavily armed fighters upon arriving in the conflict-ravaged region earlier this month.
The nightmare began when a militia led by a man known only as “the general” accused them of being spies, detaining the journalists in a hostile encounter where shots were fired. “I am a mother. I have three little boys,” Ward pleaded, desperate to defuse the escalating situation. The team was interrogated for hours and forced to sleep outdoors, guarded by young, armed soldiers—some as young as 14.
Ward described the haunting experience of rationing water and food, while the overwhelming uncertainty of survival gnawed at her. “Sleep, when it came, was a mercy,” she admitted, as the looming threat of never seeing her children again weighed heavily on her mind.
After 48 intense hours, the general shockingly declared that they could leave, admitting, “We thought you were spies but now you can go home.” A wave of relief swept over Ward and her team as they awkwardly posed for a final photo with their captors.
While Ward and her team are now safe, their experience underscores the ever-present dangers of reporting from war zones, where over 20,000 people have been killed and millions displaced since the Sudanese civil war erupted in 2023.
