Kibaki moves Ali, names new Kenya police boss

• Major General Hussein Ali has been moved to the Postal Corporation of Kenya as its Chief Executive.

• Mr Iteere was the former General Service Unit Commandant.

Until now, he survived previous attempts to remove him from office.

The Waki Commission, which investigated the post-election violence recommended that a military officer should not head the police.

At least 1,000 people were killed in the violence and thousands displaced. Police were accused of using excessive force, including live bullets, to quell the riots.

The United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, Prof Philip Alston, said Maj-Gen Ali should be sacked for allegedly abetting unlawful killings of suspected criminals.

Prof Alston investigated the killings in Mt Elgon as police battled the Saboat Land Defence Force.

SLDF killed about 1,200 villagers in 18 months of insurgency that began in August 2006 after a botched land resettlement exercise at Chebyuk, in Mt Elgon.

The military moved in after the launch of a security operation against members and sympathisers of the SLDF and managed to kill the militia's leader Wycliffe Matakwei as well as arresting its other commanders.

At a handing over ceremony at Vigilance House, the police headquarters, Major General Ali expressed satisfaction with his tenure.

"I managed to bring crime down and I take pride in what I did," he told a news conference.

Mr Iteere said it was too early for him to comment on anything as he had just assumed office.

Additional reporting by Muchemi Wachira.