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NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya risks suffering another eruption of violence even before its next presidential election in 2012 if long-awaited reforms are not put in place soon, the United States warned on Tuesday.

Ethnic clashes killed at least 1,300 people and drove 300,000 from their homes after a disputed ballot at the end of 2007, shattering the image of east Africa's biggest economy as the region's tranquil business, tourism and logistics hub.

A coalition government formed to end the turmoil has disappointed many Kenyans by doing little more than bicker aamongst its members, while local activists and donor nations say time is running out for it to enact the reforms it promised.

"Failure to implement significant reforms will greatly enhance prospects for a violent crisis in 2012 or perhaps even before, which might well prove worse than the last post-election crisis," U.S. Ambassador Michael Ranneberger said.

"Most Kenyans agree the window to achieve significant reforms will close by the end of this year, so the coalition leaders must act decisively and with a much greater sense of urgency," he told a business gathering in Nairobi.

Washington has already barred several senior Kenyan officials, including the attorney general, from visiting the United States over concerns about the slow pace of reforms, and Ranneberger said more travel bans might be issued soon.

"PUT BEHIND BARS"

"(We) may take additional actions in the coming weeks regarding persons who are not welcome," Ranneberger said.

The ambassador listed a string of unresolved corruption scandals that he said had cost Kenyan taxpayers more than a $1 billion and said Washington had suspended a planned five-year, $7 million programme with the Education Ministry that was due to start this year because of another procurement scandal there.

"Those culpable for the fraud should not merely be sacked; they should be prosecuted and put behind bars," he said, to loud applause from his audience of business leaders.

Graft is a major deterrent to private sector investment in the economy. Watchdog Transparency International ranks Kenya as the most corrupt nation in east Africa.

He said President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, the former opposition leader, should set aside their differences in talks to create a new constitution, and said President Barack Obama and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called both men recently to urge them to compromise.

"The development of a consensus draft and the holding of a successful referendum would constitute a very significant watershed for reforms," Ranneberger said. "My government, at the highest levels, would respond very positively to this."

The search for a new constitution -- viewed by some as a tool to check state powers and a guarantee of a fair distribution of resources -- began in the early 1990s, but its realisation has been held back by various political interests.