Haji Hussein, was offered the chairmanship of the SSDF by a group of clan leaders, but declined. Over the next several years, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed would emerge as the pre-eminent leader in northeastern Somalia. In 1992, he marshalled forces to successfully expel an Islamist extremist group linked to Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya that had taken over Bosaso, a prominent port city and the commercial capital of the northeastern part of the country. Puntland In 1998, a homegrown constitutional conference was held in Garowe over a period of three months. Attended by SSDF representatives, traditional elders (Issims), members of the business community, intellectuals and other civil society members, the autonomous Puntland State of Somalia was subsequently officially established so as to deliver services, offer security, facilitate trade, and interact with both domestic and international partners. Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed was appointed as the nascent polity's first President. After serving two terms as President of Puntland, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed was elected in 2004 as President of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), an interim federal administrative body that he had helped establish earlier in the year. References Factions in the Somali Civil War 1978 establishments in Somalia Political parties established in 1978 Political parties disestablished in 2001