Burma's military junta has demanded economic and diplomatic sanctions against the country be lifted before they consider any political reform.

State television reported General Thein Sein, the country's prime minister, as calling on the United Nations to "first try and remove economic sanctions and visa bans" in exchange for economic development and political stability.

The comments came as UN special envoy to Burma, Ibrahim Gambari, ended his four-day visit to the country.

Gen Sein reportedly told the envoy that the sanctions represented human rights violations and political stability could be achieved if the economic situation was stable.

"We have been trying amid many kinds of difficulties, but you cannot ask us to run by tying the legs with rope. You need to release the rope," state media quote the prime minister as saying.

On Monday Mr Gambari met with Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader who has been under house arrest for almost two decades.

She reportedly told the UN envoy that the military government needed to recognise her party's election victory in 1990 and review the new constitution passed controversially last year shortly after Cyclone Nargis.
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