The seven laureates, including Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and South Africa's anti-apartheid cleric Desmond Tutu, said the junta should face sanctions for its crackdown on Buddhist monks last September rather than get plaudits for its recent announcement of an election timetable.

'No nation should sell arms to a regime that uses weapons exclusively against its own people,' said a joint statement issued from Archbishop Tutu's office.

'We call upon the international community to actively work to implement arms embargoes against the regime. Further we appeal to members of the Security Council and the international community to take action...(to) prevent the sale of arms, including a ban on banking transactions to the Burmese military.'

China, one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, is a major supplier of weapons to Myanmar's military rulers.

The junta, in power since crushing a pro-democracy uprising in 1988, took the world by surprise on Feb 8 when it announced plans for a referendum on a new Constitution, which it said would set the stage for national elections in 2010.

However, the government told its regional counterparts that Ms Suu Kyi, whose British husband died of cancer nine years ago, could not run in the elections as her spouse was a foreigner.

The laureates, who described the junta's road map for democracy as 'flawed', said it was essential that the National League for Democracy (NLD) leader be released from house arrest and her party allowed to contest the elections. 'The NLD and Burma's ethnic nationalities must play an inclusive role in determining a negotiated settlement and transition to democracy,' their statement said.

Myanmar has been under international pressure over its crackdown on peaceful demonstrations led by Buddhist monks in September. The UN says at least 31 people were killed.

But the generals have ignored calls to free Ms Suu Kyi and open a political dialogue, sticking instead to their own road map for democracy which critics say will enshrine the military's rule.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE