Diraige created the Sudan Federal Democratic Alliance (SFDA), a member organization of the opposition National Democratic Alliance. From 1996, SFDA deputy Sharif Harir set up an office in Asmara, Eritrea, from which it actively recruited armed fighters from migrant Darfuris.[8] On 23 January 2004, Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Taha met Diraige in Nairobi, while ostensibly on hajj break from talks in Naivasha ending the war in the south.