(Corrects to add context in paragraphs 10-11)
By Skye Wheeler
JUBA, Sudan, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Talks to resolve a standoff in Sudan's national coalition government could resume next week after a first round ended without resolution, threatening a fragile peace agreement that ended Africa's longest war.
The southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) froze its membership of the government last week after months of stalemate on implementing major elements of the 2005 peace deal.
"Maybe early next week," said south Sudan's Minister of Presidential Affairs Luka Biong when asked when the talks with President Omar Hassan al-Bashir would continue.
He said SPLM Chairman and First Vice President Salva Kiir would meet Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki in Khartoum on Saturday and then head south to Jonglei for a peace conference.
Kiir had been due to leave for the south on Friday but had postponed his trip, SPLM officials said. Friday is a holiday in Muslim northern Sudan.
SPLM officials say Kiir is "optimistic" but attacks by Bashir's National Congress Party in the media have continued. Members of the NCP told the state news agency, SPLM had violated the agreement and arrested and raided NCP offices in the south.
Riek Gai, the southern NCP Deputy Chairman, said the SPLM move was "an attempt to cover up their failure in the south".
The SPLM has given Bashir's party until Jan. 9, the third anniversary of the landmark peace deal, to show progress on outstanding issues. The conflict cost 2 million lives and more than 4 million people were driven from their homes.
These include redeployment of northern troops from southern oil fields, mapping the borders of the oil-rich Abyei region, demarcating the north-south boundary and the fate of hundreds of political prisoners being held in northern jails.
SPLM Deputy Secretary-General Yasir Arman told Reuters the party leadership in Khartoum had agreed that a delayed SPLM cabinet reshuffle of their quarter of government posts in Khartoum was linked to the implementation of outstanding elements of the peace deal.
Until both issues were resolved, the SPLM ministers would not return to work.
Bashir granted that reshuffle after the walkout but SPLM officials said two presidential advisers were not appointed as requested.
Biong said a separate reshuffle of seven ministers in the semi-autonomous southern cabinet announced on Thursday was to improve efficiency.
Information Minister Samson Kwaje will now take of the Agriculture Ministry.
The former industry and mining minister Albino Akol Akol has been swapped with former youth and culture minister John Luk John. Both were on the key joint north-south petroleum commission which decides oil contracts in Sudan.
"He (John) is a lawyer, well versed in oil issues," said an international observer. (Additional reporting by Opheera McDoom in Khartoum)
