KHARTOUM: The Dar es Salaam camp for South Sudanese resembles a junk yard wrapped in hessian. Residents have tied cloth bags around metal crates, beds and other possessions to form crude shelters.
With no jobs, no running water and not even a toilet in their dusty Sudanese outpost, they have only one wish: to somehow reach South Sudan, which separated from the north one year ago.
"We don't want money; just want to move," says a woman who has spent months in the camp, sharing one hut with nine other family members.
The UN says there are almost 40 "departure points" like Dar es Salaam around the Sudanese capital, and they are home to an estimated 38,000 South Sudanese.
"Of course, the main demand of these people is to be moved to South Sudan," says Philippa Candler, assistant representative for protection with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Sudan.
The UN estimates that 500,000 South Sudanese are left in the north but the government's IDP (internally displaced persons) Centre says there are at most 200,000.
Many have spent their entire lives in the north or came to Sudan when they were children, as millions fled a devastating 22-year civil war.
The fighting ended in a 2005 peace deal which paved the way for South Sudan's independence on July 9, 2011 following a near-unanimous vote for separation in a referendum.
Those who remain face uncertainty after the April 8 expiry of a deadline to either formalise their status or leave the country.
"Now we are foreigners," said a South Sudanese church worker.
"The South Sudanese people here are in a very miserable situation. They want to go back," he said, requesting anonymity.
"So now, we are here as hostages."
The status of each country's nationals in the other nation is among the critical issues which the UN said Sudan and South Sudan must settle within three months under African Union-led talks being held in Addis Ababa.
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