Ibrahim Gambari, the United Nations special envoy, on Sunday held talks with Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma’s detained democracy leader, in an urgent mission to bring reconciliation between angry citizens and generals apparently intent on trying to “tough out” the biggest protests against them in 20 years.

Mr Gambari arrived in Burma at the weekend at the behest of the UN Security Council acting on global concern about an escalation of violence in the troubled country. He spent an hour and a half with Ms Suu Kyi as he sought to bridge differences between the authorities and the tens of thousands of monk-led protesters who have taken to the streets around Burma for the last fortnight.