[5] Meanwhile, the French were attempting to expand from West Africa along the southern border of the Sahara Desert in order to control all of the trade through the Sahel.

The intersection of these lines of intended control passed through Kodok, and a standoff between armed expeditionary forces led the two countries to the brink of war.

In 1904, the development of the Anglo-French Entente Cordiale prompted the British to change the town's name to Kodok (Kothok) in the hope of obliterating the memory of the incident.

[5] The Evangelical Church Mission Society (CMS) was assigned in 1898 by the British colonial administration to Kodok awarded to the missionary, after they had been denied the location of Khartoum.

The Catholic Verona Fathers were also given the area west of the Nile and the Presbyterian Church (USA) the east to the Ethiopian border.

There are also ongoing local disputes in the area between Kodok and the south of Malakal on the Nile for land rights and water distribution.