The United Nations, under pressure from the Bush administration, has decided to move a stash of submachine guns out of the organizationâs New York City headquarters. The MP5s, made by Heckler and Koch of Germany, are to be moved to U.N. peacekeeping operations overseas, State Department sources said. The United Nations purchased the restricted weapons for the personal protection of Secretary-General Kofi Annan in his travels around the New York metropolitan area. The weapons often were visible in the support van of Mr. Annanâs motorcade as it moved throughout the city. It was not clear why Mr. Annanâs bodyguards needed such weapons, said sources within the State Departmentâs Diplomatic Security Service (DSS). Under a U.S. agreement with the United Nations, DSS bears ultimate responsibility for Mr. Annanâs protection within the borders of the United States.
Kofi wanted his own private army, just like all his friends, Yassar, Chucky, Kadaffi, Bob, etc.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), which regulates the sale and purchase of the MP5s, originally denied the United Nations permission to purchase the guns. Key factors were the U.N. security departmentâs lack of formal status as a law-enforcement agency and the risk of non-U.S. citizens gaining access to the weapons, State Department sources said. The United Nations, aided by senior officials in the Clinton administration, persuaded the ATF to grant permission.
Big suprise there.
In February 2002, the Bush administration ordered a review of the U.N. security officersâ use of the weapons. Shortly after the 2002 ATF examination, U.N. security officials told The Washington Times, the MP5s were removed from Mr. Annanâs security detail and locked up.
And heâs been pouting ever since. 
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