Somalia’s parliament declared on Saturday a state of emergency for three months to restore security in the Horn of Africa country after several weeks of war ousted rival Islamists.Members of parliament passed the vote in the government’s interim seat of Baidoa—its home until Ethiopian and Somali troops defeated Islamists who had controlled much of the south.“A three-month state of emergency has been passed. If need arises for the government to extend the period then the president will have to ask parliament for approval,’’ second deputy speaker Osman Elmi Boqore told parliament.The vote came hours after Ethiopian-backed government forces captured a southern Islamist stronghold. Many fugitive Islamists were believed to be holed up in the coastal village of Ras Kamboni near the Kenyan border after fleeing south.British-based aid agency Oxfam said air raids to pursue Islamists and their suspected al-Qaeda allies hiding in southern Somalia had mistakenly killed 70 nomadic herdsmen. Both Ethiopia and the United States deny hitting civilians.
