Hello and welcome to the Intelligence on Economist Radio.

I'm your host, Jason Palmer.

Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

After five and a half months without one, the World Trade Organization has a new leader.

Gozy O'Conjo Eweila brings plenty of experience to the role, but it's a tricky time to be repairing relationships and building trust among the WTO's members.

And beneath the waves there's a constantly shifting soundscape.

As humans carry on more activity underwater, it's getting louder and louder.

Meanwhile, the creatures that call the ocean home are getting quieter and quieter.

First up though.

Today ends a two day summit on security and terrorism in the Sahel, a vast and volatile African region south of the Sahara desert.

Leaders of the G5 Sahel grouping, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger, met in Chad's capital, Germana.

French President Emmanuel Macron joined via video link.

For the past eight years, France has been leading a counterterrorism effort against the region's jihadists.

A year ago it increased its force there to more than 5,000 troops who have had some success in beating back one of the main armed groups.

But the country's continued military presence has also drawn protests in Mali.

As the conflict drags on and insurgents reassemble, France finds itself in a tough spot, fighting a thankless war that looks harder and harder to win.

The G5 countries and Emmanuel Macron are meeting to really take stock and review options on this operation and how it has evolved over the last year.

Sophie Petter is our Paris bureau chief.

The region is still unstable and I think the French in particular want to review how things have gone and decide what they're going to do next.

And let's wind back a bit. What is the conflict about and who's involved?

Well, it's been eight years now since the French first dispatch troops out to Mali at the time.

It was to beat back an incursion by jihadists who had coming from the North and were heading to Bamako, the capital.

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