 For a time, the RRA later supported an initiative to form a new Transitional National Government (TNG) under President Abdiqasim Salad Hassan.On April 1, 2002, Shatigadud became the President of the Southwestern State of Somalia, an autonomous self-proclaimed state in southern Somalia centered in Baidoa.The polity's organization was thought to be a move to show the disaffection of the RRA with the nascent Mogadishu-based Transitional National Government, as well as an act to counter the influence of the Somalia Reconciliation and Restoration Council (SRRC) in the same regions.