Just over 2,000 Christians are being airlifted from Khartoum to South Sudan by a Western charity in the face of growing hostility towards non-Muslims in Sudan.

Last week the first flight carrying around 150 people made its way from Khartoum to the South Sudan capital, Juba. The airlift is being financed by the Barnabas Fund and co-ordinated by the independent Protestant Africa Inland Church (AIC). The total cost of the operation is estimated to be £175 per refugee, £350,000 in total.

A spokesman for the Barnabas Fund, an evangelical charity, said AIC pastors had selected people for the airlift who were especially vulnerable - those who are elderly or disabled and children who have no family and who would not otherwise be able to make the journey independently.

Photos above and homepage from the Barnabas Fund