Kenya leading UN campaign against ‘merchants of doom’

Mr Rugunda added that without “political will” on the part of UN member-states, treaty provisions will prove meaningless.

The United States, the world’s number-one weapons dealer, has sought in the past to block movement toward an Arms Trade Treaty.

China and Russia, which also export large quantities of arms, have been unenthusiastic, while some major arms importers, such as Pakistan and Egypt, abstained in a UN vote three years ago endorsing the need to control illegal small-arms trafficking.

More recently, the United States joined Zimbabwe in casting the only votes against creation of a UN working group on small arms trafficking.

That move was supported by 147 nations.

It remains to be seen whether US President Barack Obama will soften the stand taken by the Bush administration in alliance with gun rights groups in the United States.

But Mr Obama has already expressed his agreement with a controversial interpretation of a US Constitutional provision on the right to bear arms.

Pro-gun organisations argue that this stipulation bars lawmakers from adopting almost any sort of gun-control measure.