The United Nations is sending an envoy to Ethiopia and Egypt, seeking help to jump-start the attempt to form a functioning government in Somalia.
Envoy Francois Fall will meet Saturday with Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit, and with the head of the Arab League, Amre Moussa.
On Sunday he travels to Ethiopia to meet with the chairman of the African Union Commission, Alpha Omar Konare.
Mr. Fall is trying to bridge a rift between two factions in Somalia's transitional government who have not yet agreed on the city in which the new government will operate.
One group, led by Prime Minister Mohamed Ali Gedi and President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, has chosen Jowhar as a temporary capital because it thinks Mogadishu is too dangerous.
Another group, led by speaker of parliament Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden, says Mogadishu should be the seat of government.