Tsunami relief group disbanded
 |  The tsunami relief group announced by Bush last week has been disbanded. |
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JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) -- U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has announced that the four-nation "core group" launched to coordinate tsunami relief efforts was being disbanded.
The group would instead be folded under the United Nations' oversight of the daunting relief and reconstruction effort, Powell told a conference of tsunami relief donors in the Indonesian capital on Thursday.
U.S. officials had insisted the group -- consisting of the United States, Australia, Japan and India -- would be complimentary to U.N. efforts.
But those officials now say given the urgent need to improve coordination and reduce confusion in the relief and reconstruction effort, that it was decided the "core group" was no longer necessary.
"The core group helped to catalyze the international response," Powell said, according to a prepared text released by the State Department.
"Having served its purpose, it will ... now fold itself into the broader coordination efforts of the United Nations."
U.S. President George W. Bush formed the international coalition on December 29 to respond to the massive tsunami that wreaked havoc along the coastlines of the Indian Ocean.
He announced that the United States had "established a regional core group with India, Japan and Australia to help coordinate relief efforts. I'm confident more nations will join this core group in short order."
Earlier in the day, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan issued an appeal on behalf of the world body for $977 million that the U.N. estimates it will need through June to carry out the largest humanitarian operation in its history.
Of that $977 million, Annan said $229 million was needed for food and agriculture; $122 million for health care; $61 million for water and sanitation; $222 million for shelter and non-food items.
After the one-day conference officially ended, Powell said he was very happy with its outcome, noting that it helped improved the United States' international ties.
"There was not one single discussion about Iraq," he said.
The secretary said he believed the international community has a sense of great urgency in regards to the tsunami disaster. He also countered skeptics who doubt all the monetary pledges will be kept.
"When the United States says $350 milllion, we mean $350 million," he said.
The U.S. is close to a deal with Indonesia, which had been stalled six years ago, to give the country spare airplane parts to help the humanitarian effort, Powell said.
Indonesia has about 24 of the transport aircraft but only about seven are operational because of the lack of parts.
The deal to give Indonesia the parts failed in 1999 because U.S. military equipment was being used against separatist rebels.
Powell said the "humanitarian need tops the reservations we have," adding that if the deal is finalized the U.S. will keep a watchful eye on how the aircraft are used.
