UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon and World Bank President Jim Yong Kim on Wednesday voiced support for the latest peace efforts and promotion of economic growth in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the wider region.

During the first joint UN-World Bank visit of its kind, Kim announced that the World Bank would provide 1 billion U.S. dollars in proposed new funding to help countries in the Great Lakes provide better health and education services, generate more cross- border trade, and fund hydroelectricity projects in support of the peace deal, deputy UN spokesman Eduardo del Buey told reporters here at a daily news briefing.

After meeting with Joseph Kabila, the president of DRC, and government ministers, Ban noted that these new investments would directly support the implementation of the vital framework for peace, security and cooperation, del Buey said.

The joint visit is in support of the UN-brokered peace agreement, which was signed in February by 11 African nations and four international organizations (11+4), and aims to end the cycles of conflict and crisis in the eastern DRC and to build peace in the long-troubled region.

"We believe it offers the best hope for peace in a generation. But that agreement must translate into concrete actions. A peace deal must deliver a peace dividend for people," del Buey said, quoting the UN chief as saying.

Recent days have witnessed renewed clashes between rebels from the 23 March Movement (M23) and the DRC national armed forces in Goma, which was the scene of intense fighting late last year.

The UN Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) reported that a rocket launched from an M23 position resulted in one death and four injuries among the civilian population in a neighborhood of Goma as the fighting continued for the third day, said del Buey.

Tensions have been heightened in the region recently as the M23 publicly decried the deployment of an intervention brigade within MONUSCO.

In March, the UN deployed an intervention brigade within the existing peacekeeping mission (MONUSCO) to bring added stability and protect civilians in eastern DRC. The brigade is authorized to carry out targeted offensive operations, with or without the Congolese national army, against armed groups that threaten peace in that part of the country. Endi

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