Peacekeeping help sought for nation

An African Union delegation was in Mogadishu, the Somalian capital, to discuss the deployment of international peacekeepers as government troops expanded a house-to-house search for weapons in one of the world’s most dangerous and heavily armed cities.

Troops loyal to the interim government, aided by Ethiopia, last month routed an alliance of Islamic religious leaders that had controlled much of southern Somalia since summer. But insecurity remains a problem in a country that in effect hasn’t had a government since 1991.