KHARTOUM: For nine months, Carlo has lived like so many South Sudanese stranded in the north -- hungry and jobless, in a makeshift camp, never knowing when he will leave for his newly-independent homeland.
Finally, the 1,300-kilometre (810-mile) train journey looks set to begin, but it will take him through a war-zone and could last more than two weeks.
"We have stayed here a long time, and we have suffered from many things. When the train comes to collect us, we will be so happy," said the 60-year-old father of five.
The camp that has sprung up around Shajara train station, in a southern suburb of Khartoum, now has around 3,700 inhabitants, all from South Sudan's Bahr al-Ghazal region, but remains without running water or sanitation.
Some have been waiting here for 11 months.
There are many more stuck in other transit camps, most notably in the port town of Kosti, south of Khartoum, where 13,000 people await barge transport up the White Nile river, and in Renk, south of the border.
But over the next three months, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) plans to repatriate 18,000 southerners, two-thirds of them by rail and the rest by river, with the first train due to leave Shajara by the end of next week.
"There is no work here. So we don't have any money and we don't have food. We want to go to our country," said Adud Wol Wol, a mother of six.
Coming to Khartoum in 1988, Adud was among the millions of southerners who fled north during the devastating 22-year conflict between the government and the former southern rebels.
Since last year, they have been streaming back to participate in the building of their new nation, which gained formal independence on July 9, and to escape the uncertainties in the north where they have been forced to apply for residency and many stripped of their jobs.
"There is fear here. Sometimes there is violence. They have taken away our freedom and if we stay here we will not find work," said Carlo, adding that separation had "complicated everything."
At least 360,000 southerners have returned to the south since October, but support from Juba, the southern capital, has been limited and sporadic, mainly due to lack of funds.
The IOM has already transported 14,000 returnees from the north by barge this year and says the poor conditions in the transit camps have galvanised financial support for its latest repatriation project.
"The biggest argument for getting more money from the donors was to avert a humanitarian crisis," said Johannes Braun, the group's deputy programme coordinator.
At crowded camps like the one in Kosti, which was built to accommodate only 1,200 people, there is a high risk of diarrhoea and malaria outbreaks among its inhabitants, many of whom already suffer from malnourishment.
The IOM says it faces major logistical challenges in maintaining international standards during the train journeys -- which could take up to three weeks -- including the provision of food, water and medical care.
Travelling in convoys of three, each carrying up to 1,500 people, the trains will pass through the conflict state of South Kordofan. So their safety is also a serious concern, especially after a deadly attack on a train carrying southern returnees in June.
On Wednesday, the ministry of humanitarian affairs agreed to ensure the security of the train convoys.
Another problem facing the returnees is the question of luggage, which the IOM says it has to limit due to space constraints, and because it slows down the process.
In the Shajara camp, huge piles of belongings such as metal bed frames, chairs and mattresses, are stacked up behind the tents, simple possessions that they want to use to build their new lives, when they eventually reach their destination.
Carlo says he sent members of his family ahead of him and waited behind, specifically so that he could bring his furniture with him.
"I think they will be able to take our things -- one load each time," he added hopefully.
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