20110825
Reuters
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's prime minister axed rebel party members from his cabinet on Wednesday, dismissing suspended higher education minister William Ruto, who has been named by the International Criminal Court as a suspect in post-election violence.


Ruto, one of six suspected architects of the ethnic fighting in early 2008 that killed some 1,300 people, has fallen out dramatically with Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who faces growing rifts within his Orange Democratic Movement party.

Both Odinga and Ruto intend to contest the 2012 presidential election.

Also dismissed were East African Community minister Hellen Sambili and Assistant Livestock Minister Aden Duale, who had both become increasingly critical of Odinga as the political sands shift ahead of next year's vote.

The presidency said in a statement Margaret Kamar had taken over the higher education post and that Moses Wetangula, a close ally of President Mwai Kibaki, had been reinstated as foreign minister after stepping down last year over graft accusations.

Wetangula stepped aside in October under pressure to give investigators room to look into a scandal over the purchase of embassy buildings.

Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, another Kibaki ally and who is also among the six high-profile suspects awaiting a confirmation of charges hearing at the ICC next month, remains in his post.

International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo in December named three government ministers, the cabinet secretary and a former police chief as key suspects behind the violence that shook Kenya after a late 2007 election.