DNS forwarder not working in some cases

I defined an dns forwarder to forward dns requests to another ipfire instance through (ipsec) vpn.

DNS forwarding entry:

abc.local 10.99.99.1

When I do a nslookup manually from my local network at the remote dns server it works:

nslookup nb-01.abc.local 10.99.99.1

Server:  ipfire.abc.local
Address:  10.99.99.1

Non-authoritative answer:
Name:    nb-01.abc.local
Address:  10.99.99.58

But a query on the local dns server fails:

nslookup nb-01.abc.local

Server:  ipfire.sg18.local
Address:  10.0.0.1

*** ipfire.abc.local can't find nb-01.abc.local: Server failed

The log shows the following errors

|11:41:07|unbound: [12590:0]|error: SERVFAIL <nb-01.abc.local. A IN>: all the configured stub or forward ser vers failed, at zone abc.local.|
|11:41:07|unbound: [12590:0]|error: SERVFAIL <nb-01.abc.local. AAAA IN>: all the configured stub or forward servers failed, at zone abc.local.|

However the query for hosts without a dash seem to work:

nslookup gkaw.abc.local
Server:  ipfire.sg18.local
Address:  10.0.0.1

Non-authoritative answer:
Name:    gkaw.abc.local
Address:  10.99.99.42