under his first six months of leadership. Warlords and their influence were eliminated from the city with the help of the people's support which made it possible for the first time in sixteen years to reopen Mogadishu International Airport and Mogadishu Port. Top UN officials have referred to this period as a 'Golden era' in the history of Somali politics. At the time the Transitional Federal Government which was established in Mbagathi, Nairobi in 2004, was a fragile body which was divided and weak. The Ethiopian army invaded Somalia claiming that it was trying to help the Transitional Federal Government and overthrew the Islamic Court Union. Sharif met with the US Ambassador to Kenya for talks concerning cooperation with the Transitional Federal Government, after which he left for Yemen to meet with other former Islamic Courts Union members. Pre-presidential political career As an exiled opposition leader Sharif, the former leader of the Islamic Courts Union, was in search of a headquarters for establishing a new political party, the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia. In September 2007 nearly 500 delegates gathered in Asmara, Eritrea, including Islamists, parliamentarians, civil society and the diaspora and adopted a constitution. Sharif's party the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia signed a peace treaty with the Transitional Federal Government on 9 June 2008 in Djibouti called the Djibouti Agreement. President of Somalia The Sharif administration successfully brought the Federal Government of Somalia through transitional status following the collapse of the previous governing administration in 1991. His administration is credited with developing Somalia's constitution and setting up key institutions such as the police, the military and the judiciary. He established the Somali National Army, opened the main sea port of Mogadishu and relaunched the central bank. Under Sharif's leadership, the Transitional Federal Government succeeded in driving out Al Shabaab from the capital city and its surroundings, establishing security, peace and reconciliation through the difficult transitional period. Presidential Election 2009 After winning the vote in the early hours of 31 January 2009, President Sharif was sworn in later in the day at the Kempinski hotel in Djibouti. Sharif vowed to form a broad-based government and invited all armed groups in the war-ravaged Horn of Africa nation to join the UN-sponsored reconciliation effort. Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the UN's special envoy for Somalia, praised the "transparent" presidential vote. "We are finally seeing progress from the hard work by all sides