South Sudan accuses Khartoum of ‘enslaving’ 35,000 citizens

South Sudan accused former foe Sudan on Friday of holding 35,000 Southerners as “slaves,” stalling talks to resolve to furious oil dispute as tensions remain high between the two nations.

“There is unfortunately a disagreement, because the government of Sudan refused the inclusion of the freedom of about 35,000 South Sudanese enslaved citizens,” South Sudan’s chief negotiator Pagan Amum told AFP.

Amum said the abductees were taken hostage during its bloody 1983-2005 civil war, which ended in a peace deal that paved the way for the South's formal independence in July.

The rivals are in the Ethiopian capital holding the latest round of dragging African-Union led talks. The two countries have been at loggerheads since the South split from the north in July, threatening to reignite conflict between the two former bitter enemies.

Oil has been a major sticking point in the talks, since Juba took 75 percent of oil at independence but Khartoum controls processing and export facilities.

But deals must also be made on contentious nationality issues, as well as border demarcation and the future of the contested Abyei region, claimed by both sides but occupied by Khartoum's army.

Juba took the drastic decision to halt production in January, despite oil making up 98 percent of its revenue, after Sudan started seizing the crude in lieu of a deal on transit fees.

Khartoum said the approach from South Sudan was “not constructive” and proposed the creation of a separate high level committee to deal with the sticking points on nationality issues.

However, Sudanese negotiator Sabir Mohamed al-Hassan said the talks were stalled because the South insisted on hammering out details about the proposed committee, including how citizens would be repatriated.

“They insisted to go into detail and we refused to go into detail, and the meeting broke down,” he said.