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From Eastern Asia, we're taking you to central Africa where there are a lot of questions about the leadership and the future of the nation of Chad.
This landlocked country of more than 17 million people has its share of challenges. The U.S. government estimates that more than 42 percent of Chad's population lives below the poverty line.
It's struggled with terrorist uprisings and rebel groups that want to take over the Chadian government. And that government, a presidential republic has just lost its president under mysterious circumstances. Apparently, he was killed while fighting with his Army against a rebel group north of Chad's capital. What's happening here isn't confined strictly to central Africa.
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The death of President Idriss Deby, a strong man of Chad for more than 30 years will send shockwaves through capitals in the region and in the west, and it's a death in bizarre circumstances. Right after he was announced the winner of a disputed election for a sixth term, former general and military tactician traveled north to the front line to visit troops battling a rebel push on the capital.
On state TV an army spokesman saying he'd died of his injuries. His son is now in charge.
AZEM BERMENDAO AGOUNA TRANSLATED: The transitional military council reassure the Chadian people that all positions have been taken to assure that peace, the security and the republic in order. Long live the republic. Long live Chad. The president of the transitional military council will be General Mahamat Idriss Deby.
MCKENZIE: For years Deby has been a steady if not controversial ally to Paris and Washington. The U.S. military has trained Chadian special forces and depended on its highly regarded but ruthless military to take the lead in the fight against terror groups in the Sahel and Lake Chad region.
But Deby's closest ally was always France. It's where he got his own military training before seizing power in 1990. France uses Chad as a base for Operation Barkhane. Thousands of troop strong, it's key to fighting Al- Qaida and insurgencies in the region.
France's military has twice stepped in to stop attempted rebel takeovers of the capital during Deby's rule, even as the president's reputation faulted domestically, accused of corruption and political oppression. On Tuesday, the French president said France had lost a brave friend.
A journalist in N'Djamena told us that the situation in the capital is largely calm. But the power vacuum created by the death of Deby could provide new impetus to rebel groups that are trying to take over. David McKenzie, CNN, Johannesburg.
