The Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Most Rev Dr Idris Jones, will urge the Ministry of Defence that "one of the best ways to help Africa is to stop the Arms Trade".

Dr Jones will present a petition containing about 20,000 signatures calling for the government not to invest in a replacement for Trident, and to commence immediate plans for the decommissioning of nuclear weapons.

The petition will be handed over to the Ministry of Defence on Friday 1 December 2006.

Accompanying the Primus to the Ministry of Defence will be the Rt Rev Alan McDonald, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, and Richard McCready of the Scottish Catholic Church.

The Primus said, "The Churches in Scotland have consistently spoken out against the use of nuclear armaments.

"A wider issue is that of the arms trade in general which generates huge sums for the economy but puts into the hands of irresponsible and brutal men weapons that they use to kill, maim and torture others. It fuels on-going violence in many nations across the world - Christian partners in Africa say that the best help we could give them is to stop the arms trade.

"We have discovered the will to prevent smoking from ruining the lives of non-smokers by ending smoking in public areas; when will the world's governments have the same will to prevent the arms trade from causing suffering to hundreds and thousands of people around the world?"