The Sudanese government has issued identity cards to 37,000 South Sudanese living in Khartoum to allow them work and access basic services.

The cards are part of a registration process that started last month.

More than 54,000 South Sudanese living have been registered so far in the exercise.

The process is being done under an agreement between UNHCR, Sudan’s Commissioner for Refugees and the Directorate General of Passports and Immigration.

UNHCR says the registration and provision of ID cards will continue all over Sudan for the next 18 months.

An estimated half-a-million South Sudanese are living in Sudan.

This includes those who have fled the ongoing conflict and others who remained in Sudan after the independence of South Sudan in 2011.