by Denis Elamu and Daniel Majack
JUBA, March 13 (Xinhua) -- South Sudanese officials on Monday called for unconditional release of two Indian oil workers kidnapped by rebels last week at Guelguk, home to the Adar oil field in the northern Upper Nile region.
"The transitional unity government (TGoNU) calls for unconditional release of (two) Indian nationals. We will not pay 1 million U.S dollars demanded by the terrorists," Minister of Information Michael Makuei told journalists in Juba.
According to the government, the abduction took place on March 8, contradicting the SPLA-in Opposition (SPLA-IO) account of March 9, when the two oil workers were captured after heavy fighting between rebels and government troops.
Makuei added that they were seeking the regional body Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), which had helped broker the 2015 peace agreement to end conflict, to gazette SPLA-IO as terrorist group.
Meanwhile, Minister of Petroleum Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth disclosed that security at the various oil fields has been beefed up in the aftermath of the kidnapping.
"We are deploying the army (SPLA), national security services and police," he said.
He added the Indian government told them it would not get involved in the incident and would instead leave it wholly to the South Sudanese government.
South Sudan has aimed to increase its oil production from below 130,000 barrels a day (bpd) to at least over 350,000 bpd.
The war-torn country is facing hyper inflation nearing 800 percent, and yet it relies 98 percent on oil export to finance its fiscal budget.
South Sudan descended into violence in December 2013, following political dispute between president Salva Kiir and former vice president Riek Machar resulting in killing of tens of thousands of people and displacement of more than 2 million.
