‘Who Sent You Here?’: CNN’s Clarissa Ward Detained by Militia Group Amid Vicious Civil War in Sudan
A CNN reporter, Clarissa Ward, recounted a harrowing experience where her crew was held captive by armed men in North Darfur while covering the ongoing civil war in Sudan. The team, consisting of Ward, a camera operator, and a producer, had intended to document the crisis affecting around 10 million displaced individuals. Upon their arrival, they encountered a rival militia instead of the welcoming group, leading to their interrogation and confinement. During their detention, they faced threats, including a moment when one captor fired a weapon, causing panic among the crew.
The captors demanded contact information for the crew’s partners, implying they could make calls from afar, which added to the tension. As their captivity approached an end, the militia ultimately decided to release them under the assumption that they were not spies. Ward expressed feelings of disappointment and failure for not being able to share the untold stories of those suffering in Darfur.
The broader context of the situation highlights that the civil war in Sudan has been ongoing since April 2023, leading to significant humanitarian crises, with severe famine and destruction in various regions, particularly in Khartoum. The conflict has seen little international intervention and continues to destabilize the region, raising alarms about the risks of a failed state. Reports indicate that healthcare systems in Sudan have collapsed, and millions face starvation, underscoring the urgent need for global attention and action.
A CNN reporter said her crew was held by armed men for about two days as they were reporting on the deadly civil war in Sudan.
Clarissa Ward wrote about the ordeal on CNN, saying her team had gone to North Darfur to chronicle the crisis taking place, in which an estimated 10 million people have been displaced.
Plans had been made, but when she and her team arrived at the agreed-upon meeting place, instead of the group that had invited her, a rival militia was waiting. After the driver was taken away in chains and jailed, she wrote, the CNN team — a camera operator, producer and her — were interrogated.
Two weeks ago, our team was held captive by a militia in Darfur. As a journalist, one never wants to become the story. But I wanted to write this because in some ways our experience tells a bigger story of the complexities of the situation in Darfur and the challenges of getting…
— Clarissa Ward (@clarissaward) October 23, 2024
“About eight men asked the questions. ‘Why are you here?’ ‘Who sent you here?’ ‘Who gave you permission to be here?’” she wrote.
Ordered to go where the militia group led them, everything stopped for no reason as a man referred to as “the general” berated them.
“There was a moment of panic — were they going to shoot us?” Ward wrote, adding that “the general” took a rifle and fired it, but not in their direction.
After being taken to a place where they were held, phone numbers for each crew member’s partner were demanded. She later learned calls to their homes were made from a place thousands of miles away.
One of the captors, referred to as “the security chief,” told Ward, “The world doesn’t see us. The help doesn’t come.”
Ward noted that as their captivity neared its end, the CNN crew was forced to remove their belongings from a vehicle, which they feared meant they were being handed over to others. Instead, they were told they could leave.
“’It has been decided you will be released tomorrow,’ they told us. ‘We thought you were spies but now you can go home,’” Ward wrote.
“Our ordeal was over. We were unharmed and soon to return home. The fear and worry quickly replaced by a feeling of bitter disappointment, of failure. We never made it to Tawila. Never managed to talk to the people in Darfur whose lives have been chewed up by this vicious civil war. Untold stories that the world may never hear,” she wrote.
𝗔𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮 | The civil war and humanitarian crisis continues in Sudan with no assistance or intervention from global organizations.
Sudan’s brutal conflict has been on-going for nearly 20-months, with no outside attention. It now faces the world’s worst famine in forty years. pic.twitter.com/xDe1siK2DW
— The African Perspective (@theafricanptv) October 23, 2024
As noted by The Washington Post Sudan’s civil war began in April 2023, pitting the Rapid Support Forces against the Sudanese government. Talks to end the war have produced nothing. The Post report said each side is being supported by outside nations, with Iran backing the government and the United Arab Emirates backing the rebels.
“Having a country that is sinking into not just violence and instability but potentially a failed state is something that creates enormous risks … for regional stability,” U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan Tom Perriello said. “Every country in the region stands to lose far more by letting the country collapse than they might gain from pursuing narrow interests.”
Last month, a report from the Council on Foreign Relations summed up the situation: “Fighting appears to be only escalating across all eighteen of Sudan’s states. Its capital, Khartoum, is almost entirely in ruin.”
“Health-care systems have collapsed, attacks on women and girls are rampant, and famine is setting in. UN officials have warned that more than two million Sudanese are at risk of death by starvation this fall,” the report said.
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