The Somali government on Tuesday relaxed a ban on four major media outlets it had closed, accusing them of biased coverage during the Horn of Africa nation's recent war, media owners said.
Officials complained the outlets - including two of Somalia's largest independent broadcasters and the local office of Al Jazeera TV - aired unconfirmed reports and leaned towards Islamists ousted at the New Year by an Ethiopian-led offensive.
But Monday's closures brought the government a blaze of unwelcome publicity and protests from both local and foreign media watchdogs, who said it was an affront to democracy.
Media executives emerged from a lengthy meeting with government officials on Tuesday to announce they were going back on the air. "The government reversed the ban," Ali Iman Sharmarke, co-owner of HornAfrik broadcaster, told Reuters.
"The international media and international organisations, especially the ones who work to protect the media, played a major role in the lifting of this ban." The 24-hour closure of the outlets came as martial law was declared across Somalia weeks after an Ethiopian-led military offensive ousted Islamists in the south.