Visiting United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon voiced hope here Tuesday that the deployment of UN intervention brigade will help the situation in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) return to normal.

Addressing reporters after meeting Mozambican President Armando Guebuza, Ban said he was disappointed by the fresh clashes between government troops and M23 rebels near the DRC city of Goma.

The eastern DRC has witnessed armed clashes over the past months since the insurgency of a newly-formed rebel group M23 launched an insurgency in North Kivu in early 2012.

The M23 rebels seized Goma, capital of the North Kivu province, before pulling out under regional pressure to facilitate peace talks late last year.

In March, the UN Security Council authorized the deployment of an intervention brigade within the United Nations Stabilization Mission in the DRC to carry out targeted offensive operations, with or without the Congolese national army, against armed groups that threaten peace in the eastern DRC.

South Africa and Tanzania have sent soldiers to the intervention brigade.

The UN chief also urged all the signatories of a UN-drafted peace deal to respect the agreement. Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, the DRC, the Republic of Congo, South Sudan, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda signed the peace and security cooperation framework agreement for the DRC on Feb. 24 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.