EGYPT'S rulers have allowed a European Union envoy to meet deposed President Mohamed Mursi, the first time an outsider has been given access to him since the army overthrew him and jailed him a month ago.

EU foreign policy chief ­Catherine Ashton said he was in good health but revealed little about a "friendly, open and very frank" two-hour conversation with Mr Mursi, after she was flown to an undisclosed location.

Ms Ashton has emerged as one of the only figures accepted by both sides as a potential mediator.

Ms Ashton said Mr Mursi had access to TV and was informed about the situation in the country. Nearly 300 people have been killed in violence since he was removed from power, including 80 supporters gunned down on Saturday.

She denied she carried an offer to Mr Mursi, who faces charges including murder, of a safe exit if he were to renounce his claim to the presidency.

Many people have suggested such an arrangement could be part of a deal that would allow Mr Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood to leave the streets and join an army-backed road map to civilian rule.

Ms Ashton said she would not attempt to characterise Mr Mursi's views. She said: "I told him in my conversation I was not going to represent his views because in the circumstances he cannot correct me if I do it wrongly."

Meeting Mr Mursi was a ­condition of Ms Ashton's offer to visit Egypt, where she also met with the general who removed him and other top leaders on her second trip in 12 days.

She has emerged as the main international envoy in Egypt, where the traditional Western ally, the United States, is regarded with extreme suspicion by both sides.

She was flown in a military helicopter to the meeting and said she did not know where she was.

Egypt's authorities say Mr Mursi is being investigated for charges including murder, stemming from a 2011 jailbreak when he escaped detention during protests against former autocrat Hosni Mubarak. His Muslim Brotherhood says the charges are absurd and trumped up to justify his detention.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius called for Mr Mursi to be released. The US and other Western countries made similar calls.

Ms Ashton spent yesterday between Egypt's rulers and the Brotherhood to try to pull the country back from more bloodshed.

Foreign countries are urging the military-backed rulers to reach a compromise with the Brotherhood, calls that gained urgency after Saturday's killings.

The government has ordered the Brotherhood to abandon a vigil it has maintained, with thousands of supporters camping out to demand Mursi's return. The Brotherhood says it will not leave the streets unless Mr Mursi is restored.

Asked if she had urged ­authorities not to clear the vigil, Ms Ashton said she had called on all sides to avert violence.

She said: "What we said to ­everyone is you need to find a calm resolution to the situation on the ground. We've made it clear that there is no place for violence."

The violence has raised anxiety that the army may try to crush the Brotherhood, a movement which emerged from decades in the shadows to win power in elections after Egypt's 2011 Arab Spring uprising against Hosni Mubarak.

The Brotherhood has said it will hold marches again today.

The White House said yesterday it "strongly condemned" Saturday's bloodshed, and urged respect for the right to peaceful protest.

Ms Ashton met General Abdel Fattah al Sisi, the head of the army and the man who overthrew Mr Mursi. She also held talks with members of the interim government installed by the army, and with representatives of the Freedom and Justice Party, the Brotherhood's political wing.