Who Is Clarissa Ward? CNN Reporter and Crew Held by Militia in Dafur as Kidnappers Believed They Were Spies [Video]

CNN correspondent Clarissa Ward revealed that she and her crew were held captive by a militia for two days while covering events in Darfur earlier this month. The 44-year-old veteran war correspondent traveled to Sudan to report on the civil war, which has triggered a humanitarian crisis affecting over 26 million people at risk of famine.

In an essay she wrote for CNN, Ward recounted that she and her team were detained by a militia led by someone known as “the general,” hours after their arrival in North Darfur. Ward, along with cameraman Scott McWhinne and producer Brent Swails, was inside a vehicle when they were surrounded by armed fighters.

In the Clutches of Death

The fighters then angrily ordered them not to film the situation. While Ward’s producer, Brent Swails, tried to de-escalate the situation, the general snatched his rifle and fired a shot, apparently targeting a bird.

“I was relieved that the gun …