Skip to main content
Wednesday, November 11, 2026Nov 11
Subscribe
All Sections
Search
More

Tiny South Sudan island is refuge for terrified families

In this photo taken Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2015, displaced people live in a camp of makeshift tents at Kok island, where around 900 people have taken shelter from fighting, in Unity State, South Sudan. Kok Island in Unity State has become a place of misery, with hundreds of war-weary people reaching there to seek shelter from the violence, just some of the more than 2 million displaced by South Sudan’s civil war, which continues despite a peace accord signed in August. (AP Photo/Jason Patinkin)
In this photo taken Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2015, displaced people live in a camp of makeshift tents at Kok island, where around 900 people have taken shelter from fighting, in Unity State, South Sudan. Kok Island in Unity State has become a place of misery, with hundreds of war-weary people reaching there to seek shelter from the violence, just some of the more than 2 million displaced by South Sudan’s civil war, which continues despite a peace accord signed in August. (AP Photo/Jason Patinkin) In this photo taken Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2015, displaced people live in a camp of makeshift tents at Kok island, where around 900 people have taken shelter from fighting, in Unity State, South Sudan. Kok Island in Unity State has become a place of misery, with hundreds of war-weary people reaching there to seek shelter from the violence, just some of the more than 2 million displaced by South Sudan’s civil war, which continues despite a peace accord signed in August. (AP Photo/Jason Patinkin)

By Associated Press 4 min read

KOK ISLAND, South Sudan (AP) – Eight years ago Turuk Gatluak settled on Kok Island, a remote marshland in the vast swamps of South Sudan’s Unity state. He planted palm trees to hold the soil together and grew enough maize, pumpkins, and sweet potatoes to feed his wife and three children.

Now South Sudan’s civil war has turned Gatluak’s home into a place of misery. Since July, hundreds of terrified civilians have crowded onto Kok, seeking safety amid the violence that persists despite a peace agreement signed in August.

On Kok Island, dozens of tents jut from the ground instead of crops. About 90 families, up to 900 people, are packed onto the island which is smaller than a football field. Those who cannot fit underneath the many tarps sleep under mosquito nets in the open.

“I told them to stay here with me and if we have to die of hunger, we die of hunger together,” Gatluak told The Associated Press recently. “Why should I live alone when people are dying outside?”

Fighting in Leer County, birthplace of rebel leader Riek Machar, has caused some 20,000 people to flee the county since late August, according to aid groups. Kok Island is in Leer County but is the furthest island from the mainland and is protected by miles of swamp.