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Fearful Afghans Awaiting Long-Promised U.S. Visas; President Idriss Deby Killed in Frontline Battle; France's Vineyards Hit by Destructive Cold Snap; Nearly 1,500 Arrested in Pro-Navalny Protests; Hospitals in India Buckle under Coronavirus Cases; Super League Appears to Be Dead; Hong Kong's Press Freedom under Attack; US Asks Brazil for "Immediate" Action on Amazon. Aired 12-12:45a ET

Aired April 22, 2021 - 00:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm John Vause.

Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, thousands of protesters holding demonstrations in cities across Russia, in support of Alexei Navalny, the jailed opposition leader, in failing health.

India's descent into COVID hell, a record rate of infection leads to severe shortages of medical supplies and a prime minister who refuses to wear a mask, while urging no pandemic lockdowns.

There just might be a deal in the works to save what's left of the Amazon from logging.

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VAUSE: Russian security forces have arrested nearly 1,500 supporters of the jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny. They were among the thousands of protesters who ignored official warnings not to take part in the so-called illegal gatherings.

Nevertheless, those gatherings were held across the nation from St. Petersburg to Moscow, to the far east. Many would-be demonstrators were rounded up and detained during early morning raids, which meant the overall turnout fell short of the half-million mark Navalny's team hoped for.

But still, this was a notable act of defiance. Time to begin as president Vladimir Putin is coming to the end of his annual address to the nation. Putin made no mention of Navalny but did warn other countries not to interfere in Russia's domestic affairs. We have more now from CNN's Fred Pleitgen reporting in from Moscow.

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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Scores of people took to the streets here in the Russian capital, Moscow, but also in cities across this vast country, to protest what they say is the unfair and inhumane treatment of jailed opposition leader, Alexei Navalny.

Many of them told us that they're generally also dissatisfied with the way this country is being run by Vladimir Putin.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, I feel like Putin is just abusing his power to unacceptable degree. He extended his term longer and longer and he's just (INAUDIBLE) Russia more and more. He tries to escalate a relationship with foreign countries.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: Riot police out in full force as authorities had warned people before, not to take part in what they called, unsanctioned protests. Indeed, hundreds of people were detained, although not as many as we've seen at protests in the past.

Nevertheless, opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Murza, he told me in an interview, he believes that all this shows is that the Kremlin is nervous.

VLADIMIR KARA-MURZA, OPPOSITION LEADER: The biggest thing the Kremlin is terrified of is the sight of people on the streets. The biggest fear for any dictator are citizens of their own countries. The biggest fear for any dictator are their own people.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): The opposition certainly didn't pick this day at random, in fact, this is also the day that Russian president Vladimir Putin held his annual state of the nation address. There, he showed himself to be defiant. He warned other countries not to cross the red line as Russia defines them.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA (through translator): Whoever organizes any provocations that threaten our core security, will regret this like they've never regretted anything before.

PLEITGEN: The Russian leader there certainly very defiant but the opposition also defiant and they vowed to carry on with their protests until Alexei Navalny gets the treatment by the doctors he wants to see him -- Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Jill Dougherty is a professor at Georgetown University, she was also CNN's longtime Moscow bureau chief. Before that White House correspondent, she is with us this hour from Washington, D.C.

Jill, thanks for coming back, good to see you.

JILL DOUGHERTY, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY AND WILSON CENTER: Hey, John, good to see you. VAUSE: OK, Putin, he saved the threats and the bluster for the end of

the speech, as well as this unique world view he has, that Russia is not the military aggressor but rather the victim of a Western plot of containment. Then he added this for good measure.

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PUTIN (through translator): Russia is poked all the time without any reason. Of course, instantly, around them, you can see all these smaller hyenas like around a large tiger, just like in the Kipling story.

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VAUSE: He compared the U.S. to the tiger. But before he got to this point of quoting Kipling Putin spent time outlining plans for a nuclear arsenal, a hypersonic cruise missile, a nuclear torpedo designed to set off a radioactive tsunami and not to mention more than 100,000 troops on Ukraine's border. Playing the victim card seems a hard sell here, explain how these two ideas actually exist side by side in Putin's brain, what he's thinking here.

DOUGHERTY: You, know that's always very dangerous and far be it from me to psychoanalyze the president.

But I do think in watching that speech, watching the body language.

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DOUGHERTY: I listened to the whole thing in Russian. There was a certain cockiness at the end, as you mentioned, the short part, that he had international issues.

I think what he thinks, is that the West debauched, depraved as it is, not on the moral level of Russia, is really trying to, as he said, used that word poke, just nudging Russia. And Russia's very patient, he would argue. But eventually, don't play us for fools. He said we wanted relations but -- I was really struck by that -- those planning provocations will regret their deeds in a way they have not regretted anything else for a long time.

That's pretty strong. I think he's looking at a lot of problems. U.S. sanctions, Ukraine, Navalny, people on the streets in Moscow, the very day he's delivering his speech. I think he's just showing that he's ready for anything.

VAUSE: You mentioned the protesters, there were thousands on the streets, not as many as we've seen a few months ago but still there are a lot on the streets that are demanding the release of Alexei Navalny.

That's despite the fact that many of Navalny's supporters were rounded up in advance and detained. That's the move the E.U. described as deplorable. But still they managed to create this split screen moment. Putin trying to sound strong on one side of the screen, thousands of protesters on the other side of the screen. If any political leader, that's usually a sign of weakness, right, not

strength, is that true for Putin as well?

DOUGHERTY: Well, I think he's taking a harder and harder line. You have Navalny apparently enduring a very serious physical condition. You have the legal move to declare his organization and a couple other organizations that are live with it extremist organizations. That would be very serious.

You can't begin to lock up people for a very, very long time. I'm sure that he was not pleased there were all those people in Moscow. But they were pretty reserved and did not take the physical action that they did in St. Petersburg. But they can turn it on at any time if they want to.

VAUSE: I want you to listen to the U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Wednesday, on how the White House now plans to deal with Russia and Putin moving forward.

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JAKE SULLIVAN, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Unlike the previous administration, we will be taking steps to hold Russia accountable. Now is it going to stop Vladimir Putin from doing everything we don't like?

Of course not.

But do we believe that we will be able to take a firmer, more effective line when it comes to Russian aggression and Russian bad behavior?

Yes, we do. At the same time I would just like to reiterate that that doesn't rule out being able to work with Russia, where it's in our interest to do so. We can walk and chew gum at the same time.

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VAUSE: Yes, this is the line here for the Biden administration, tough line on Russia for the cyber warfare but trying to lower tensions with Moscow as well, to prevent this relationship from boiling over. The worst-case scenario, is that Alexei Navalny should die here, that massively complicates, everything and would be a huge distraction for President Biden.

DOUGHERTY: Yes, and you can bet right now the Biden administration is figuring out what it would do if Navalny does die. That's a very serious issue. I think Putin is kind of doing this walk and chew gum thing, too, although the messaging was pretty hard.

But he is saying, I want arms control but I have nuclear weapons. So there is a lot of posturing. But I do think that he wants some type of communication with the Biden administration.

It's just, at this point, I think he feels vulnerable. So he is trying to show to be as strong as he can be, to go into what maybe behind the scenes, even in front of the scenes, some type of meetings, negotiations and communication with the Biden administration.

VAUSE: So just very quickly, you can see a pathway here where the U.S. and Russia can find a common cause, a common pathway, so there could be some positives out of this. Like climate change for, instance arms control.

DOUGHERTY: Climate change, speaking of which President Putin has agreed to take part in the climate summit that President Biden has announced in the coming days. That's a good sign. Arms control obviously they agreed on an extension of a New START. So there are these possibilities.

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DOUGHERTY: But you still have to look at the tone of what is going on. And beyond those two things, you begin to wonder what can they make any progress on. It's not hopeful at all at this point.

VAUSE: Jill, thank you, appreciate you being with us.

Joe Biden set to be the first sitting president to declare the massacre of more than 1 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire genocide. The move could further fray relations with Turkey, but would fulfill a promise Biden made in the campaign.

Both presidents Trump and Obama avoided the term out of concern it would anger Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan but President Biden has not spoken with the Erdogan since taking office.

Turkey argues both Turkish Muslims and Armenian Christians died in violence during World War I and the death toll is overestimated.

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VAUSE: India's health care system appears to be on the brink of collapse as the second coronavirus wave spreads at an unprecedented rate. On Wednesday, India reported almost 300,000 new COVID-19 cases, more than 2,000 deaths, the largest single day numbers since the pandemic began.

Total new cases are 1.5 million in just over a week. Hospitals are overwhelmed, supply of medical oxygen is running low, including in Delhi, where health workers are scrambling to find new supplies. Officials say crematoriums are not able to keep up with the number of bodies. Health experts warn, this situation is dire and getting worse.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are going through pretty much the worst possible phase of the pandemic here. It has been bad for a couple of weeks but now it's reached a peak. Essentially what's happened right now is that the health system is just not able to keep pace with the sheer number of cases that are coming in.

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VAUSE: Live now to Hong Kong CNN's Anna Coren standing by.

This is a situation that just getting worse. On the other hand, there is a prime minister who is refusing to wear a face mask and also trying to avoid national lockdowns at any cost.

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, the situation is dire and it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better. We have just received official numbers out of India in the last few minutes. The daily number of infections has hit a record, it has surpassed the record in the United States, 314,835 cases, daily infections were recorded in the last 24 hours.

Over 2,100 deaths. As I say, that is a record for India. It also surpasses the U.S. daily record, 300,310 cases back on the second of January. Speaking to doctors, to health professionals, to activists, they say they have been warning the government for months, ever since that first wave in India died down.

They said, you must stockpile, you must prepare for what is inevitable. They say that the government has acted arrogantly, that it congratulated itself in surviving the first wave, that they didn't take any of the necessary precautions that they should have taken.

Now COVID is returning with a vengeance across India. Those numbers that I gave you a short time ago, John, we have to remember that, in the rural areas, there is no testing whatsoever.

So we have to remember that these official tolls are drastically low. By all accounts, this was avoidable if the government had taken action. But instead, on the 1st of March, there were 12,000 cases, a month later 80,000 cases. Now it has exceeded 314,000 daily cases.

Speaking to those health professionals in India dealing with this on a daily basis, they say this is only going to head one way and that is up.

We spoke to a celebrity activist, who is using his influence and his own resources to get people access to oxygen and to hospital beds. He says, what is going on at the moment in India is criminal, that the government has abdicated its duty of care for its people.

People are feeling very much alone, like they have been abandoned. He says he is getting pleas, hundreds of pleas a day, for the 50 people who are asking for his help to get access to a hospital, get access to oxygen, he can only help one. He's talking to family members, saying my loved one has just passed away.

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COREN: You mentioned the prime minister, Narendra Modi, who has been sending mixed messages. He addressed the nation earlier this, week calling on states not to impose another lockdown, like the nation did last year. That two month lockdown, it did cripple the economy and it certainly caused a great deal of pain.

He is now calling the states, do not impose lockdowns. Many are not heeding his advice and still going ahead, introducing these curfews but we have these migrant workers John, in the cities, now leaving, heading to their homes. And the experts say, they're only going to be spreading the virus even more so throughout the country.

VAUSE: It is a grim situation and it is going. Worse Anna Cohen, in Hong Kong. Thank. You

We will take a short break, when we get back, we'll go back to Hong Kong, where it is Hong Kong versus the freedom of the press. How very quickly within hours we'll see another crackdown on the public's access to accurate information.

Also, President Biden hosts a virtual summit on climate change in the coming hours. The issue there, the Amazon rain forest and whether the Brazilian president is willing to commit to ending its destruction.

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VAUSE: That didn't last long. The super league was born what was seen as an insanely awful idea for European football and now appears to be dead. Most of the rich and powerful clubs that tried to form the super league have caved into the backlash and pulled out of the plan and apologized to fans.

Juventus indicated that it is out as well but it's not clear if it's official. Yet Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid hanging in there for now. One of the organizing masterminds admits to Reuters, the competition is no longer viable.

Prince William, president of England's football association, says that he is glad that united voice of fans have been heard. The British prime minister also welcomed the news.

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BORIS JOHNSON, U.K. PRIME MINISTER: And I think that one of the most worrying features about the European Union super league proposals is that they would have taken clubs, take their names from great famous British towns and cities and turn them just into global brands with no relation to the fans, to the communities that gave them life and give them the most love and support. And that was, in my view, totally wrong.

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VAUSE: Stay with us, in less than 30 minutes now, Patrick Snell will have a lot more on the demise of the super league in "WORLD SPORT."

The verdict is expected in a few hours in the trial of an investigative journalist in Hong Kong. But this is about more than just one reporter doing a job to uncover possible wrongdoing in the crackdowns of the 2019 protests. It may set the tone for what freedom of the press is left in Hong

Kong. CNN's Kristie Lu Stout now live outside the courthouse.

So what can we expect?

If history is prologue, things don't look good.

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, I'm standing outside the West Kowloon court.

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STOUT: Where we are awaiting the verdict for a journalist who has been prosecuted for accessing a public database. Her name is Bao Choy, she is a prize-winning freelance producer for the public broadcaster RTHK.

In November of last year, she was arrested and charged with making a false statement while trying to obtain vehicle registration data while she was investigating a Hong Kong police response to a mob attack on pro-democracy protesters in July of 2019.

She has pleaded not guilty but, if convicted, she could face up to six months in prison. And this case is just the latest instance that is stoking fear and concern over press freedom here in Hong Kong.

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STOUT (voice-over): The press literally under attack. A Hong Kong newspaper linked to a spiritual group banned in China shared this security cam footage of masked men smashing its printing presses.

The attack coming at a time of tightening Chinese control was condemned by the city's foreign correspondents' club and the Hong Kong journalists association.

CHRIS YEUNG, HONG KONG JOURNALISTS ASSOCIATION: Journalists are under direct physical threat and that will cause damaging impact on them (INAUDIBLE) for years and feelings of terror among journalists and in doing their. Work

STOUT: Hong Kong is a major media hub with a vibrant local press and a number of multinational outlets based here. But press freedom has been in steady decline, according to the latest Reporters without Borders' World Press Freedom Index, Hong Kong has fallen from 18th place in 2002 to 80.

STOUT (voice-over): Pressure on the media intensifying in the wake of the 2019 pro democracy protests, thanks to a new security law that is curbing dissent and pave the way for patriots to run the city.

But Hong Kong's top leader, Carrie Lam, unveiled on July 1st, she promised that the city would continue to enjoy the freedom of speech, freedom of press and publication, protest assembly and so on but what followed were a number of moves against the press. The police raid of pro-democracy, "Apple Daily," the repeated arrests

of the paper's owner, Jimmy Lai. The replacement of the head of public broadcaster RTHK. The cancellation of politically sensitive shows. And the prosecution of the journalist who accessed a public database to investigate police brutality.

The security law also driven many to self censorship.

GRACE LEUNG, SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND COMMUNICATION, CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG: We don't know whether people at the next table, will overhear what we are talking about. And then they may ring a phone to the police department because they got a hot line.

STOUT (voice-over): Despite the pressure, reporters continue to report. The "Apple Daily," the city's largest opposition newspaper, is still in print. And independent online reporters and media organizations like Citizen News serve a growing audience.

YEUNG: The more difficult circumstances is, the more rewarding and meaningful journalists' work is.

STOUT (voice-over): When journalism is hit hard, there is hard- hitting journalism to do.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STOUT: The Hong Kong government has responded to Reporters without Borders World Press Freedom Index. Again, according to the index, it says that Hong Kong's ranking is fallen from 18th place in 2002 to 80th place this year. The report also called a national security law a, quote, "grave threat to journalism and press freedom."

The Hong Kong government calls the report, quote, "appalling." It says that nobody should be above the law, including journalists, and that everyone is treated equally under the new national security law -- John.

VAUSE: Thank you, Kristie Lu Stout, live for us there in Hong Kong.

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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We will bring America back, back into the Paris agreement and put his back into the business of leading the world on climate change again.

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VAUSE: That was Joe Biden before being sworn into office. He promised the climate crisis would be a priority. That commitment will be tested at Thursday's virtual climate summit with about 40 other world leaders.

Biden is expected to announce an aggressive goal of cutting U.S. carbon emissions in half by the end of this decade. Leaders of China and Russia will also attend, raising interest on how the U.S. president engages with these two adversaries. Brazilian president Bolsonaro will also attend the summit. Under his

watch, the Amazon rain forest has been ravaged by illegal logging, mining and deforestation. And now there is growing speculation that the U.S. and Brazil may have cut a deal to try to end those practices. CNN's Shasta Darlington has details.

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SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is what the United States doesn't want the Amazon to become. The Biden administration has been pushing countries to commit to tackling the climate crisis, few more so than Brazil.

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DARLINGTON (voice-over): A top 10 economy and notorious offender on the deforestation front. The Brazilian government has recommitted to ending illegal logging within the decade but wants financial support to speed up the process.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The commitment of ending deforestation by 2030 is doable with the resources we have today. If there were even greater resources in a short time span, it is possible to look at a shorter timeline.

DARLINGTON (voice-over): Those remarks to affiliate CNN Brazil come after president Bolsonaro wrote to President Biden, saying, massive resources would be needed to end deforestation.

The Amazon forest has been under increased threat since Bolsonaro was elected. Deforestation has soared and illegal fires reached unprecedented levels in the past two years. Bolsonaro pushed to open indigenous lands to mining and agriculture.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking Spanish).

DARLINGTON (voice-over): And slashed funding for environmental protection and monitoring programs. But now, he says, he is ready to engage.

PEDRO JACOBI, UNIVERSITY OF SAO PAULO: If we don't trust the government, how can others trust the government?

DARLINGTON (voice-over): Pedro Jacobi is a professor of environmental science at the University of Sao Paulo. He and other activists believe President Biden should be careful with the promises made by Bolsonaro.

JACOBI: The government has dismantled significantly the national policy on the environment that Brazil had proposed for many, many years. The previous agenda does not indicate very clearly that the U.S. can trust the Brazilian government, unfortunately.

DARLINGTON (voice-over): It is why the U.S.' climate envoy responded to Bolsonaro's commitment to deforestation with a pinch of skepticism.

"We look forward to immediate actions," John Kerry tweeted, "calling for engagement with indigenous populations and NGOs."

Activists say the answer is transparency.

JACOBI: Fundamentally it is a quantitative agenda that has to be strengthened by the Brazilian government. What are you doing?

If you are doing this, show me how and when.

DARLINGTON (voice-over): The hope is that the Brazilian government will finally be keen to show the country in a different light -- Shasta Darlington, CNN, Sao Paulo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: And already (INAUDIBLE) could soon spiral into crisis, coming up, the son of Chad's long serving president takes over after his father was killed during fighting with rebels.

And then thousands of Afghans who helped U.S. forces now desperately waiting for the U.S. to fulfill its promise for special visas. Some fear the Taliban will come for them next.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They can call you in front of your family and they just tell you that we will kill you.

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VAUSE: An Afghan peace conference backed by the United States is now on hold. Talks were scheduled for Saturday in Istanbul, but the Taliban has said they will not come until all foreign forces withdraw.

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The delay is a blow to President Joe Biden's plan to peacefully withdraw U.S. forces by September. Over the last 20 years, many Afghans who have helped American troops but promised safe haven by the U.S. government. Now they fear that promise will never be fulfilled. And once U.S. troops are gone, they'll be left at the mercy of the Taliban.

Here's CNN's Jake Tapper.

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"ABUL," FORMER ENGINEER FOR U.S. GOVERNMENT IN AFGHANISTAN: I left everything.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Forced to run for his life.

"ABDUL": I left my family and my colleagues, and it was very painful for me. TAPPER: This Afghan man fled his own country, fearing he might be killed, all because he worked as an engineer for the U.S. government in Afghanistan.

"ABDUL": I don't regret for my service.

TAPPER: He requests we call him by an alias, Abdul, protecting his identity, because he says his life is in danger from insurgents he fears are still hunting him down.

"ABDUL": Two gunmen people step to my door, and that was really the worst situation I faced. I was thinking I will be killed.

TAPPER: Abdul is like thousands of Afghans who helped American troops during the nearly 20-year war and who are now anxiously waiting for a special immigrant visa to come to the United States. A visa promised to them by the U.S. government, a promise that has turned into a nightmare for many, due in part to lots of red tape and a years-long vetting process.

JOHN MCCAIN, FORMER REPUBLICAN ARIZONA SENATOR: The United States is not making good, certainly not rapidly enough, on the issue of bringing these people, who helped us and literally saved American lives, to this country.

TAPPER: The qualifications for a special immigration visa are clear on the State Department website. You must be an Afghan national. You must have worked for the U.S. and Afghanistan for at least two years, and you must have experienced ongoing threats because of that work.

But the reality for Abdul, who applied for the visa in 2016, not as clear.

"ABDUL": I was thinking I was able to go and get my visa.

TAPPER: After years of waiting and being told he was nearing the finish line, Abdul was denied a visa on a technicality, and his story is not unique.

Right now, about 18,000 Afghans who helped U.S. troops are stuck in that bureaucratic pipeline, waiting for visas, according to a State Department official.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's time to end the forever war.

TAPPER: And now, with President Biden vowing to pull all U.S. troops out of Afghanistan by September 11, the U.S. is running out of time to approve all of these requests.

MATT ZELLER, TRUMAN PROJECT FELLOW: They've got to be evacuated now.

TAPPER: Matt Zeller, a leading expert on this issue, who served in Afghanistan, is not hopeful that will happen.

ZELLER: The Taliban are going to do everything in their power to kill them, and they're doing it now.

TAPPER: He worked on a report detailing the dangerous conditions for these Afghans, hoping to bring attention to this dire issue.

ZELLER: One of the first things that they ever teach you in basic training is that we don't leave anybody behind. We're leaving people behind.

TAPPER: Ramish Darwishi is one of the ones not left behind. He's now living in the United States after serving as an interpreter for U.S. forces for eight years. That did not come without a price.

RAMISH DARWISHI, AFGHAN TRANSLATOR FOR U.S.: They can call you in front of your family, and they're just telling you that, We will kill you in front of -- in front of camera, and we will put it on YouTube, so that your family can see it and suffer it all the time.

TAPPER: The Taliban harassed him and his family, threatening to kill them if he kept up his work. But he refused.

DARWISHI: And I just put my family, I just put myself, my friends even, even my wife's family, under threat of death because of working with the U.S.

TAPPER: Ramish applied for a visa in 2015. His, thankfully, was approved, and he moved here eight months ago. Now he's telling his story in hopes Washington will act to save people still in danger, like Abdul.

DARWISHI: If anyone can help, help those people who's left behind in Afghanistan. Help those interpreters, those translators and those brothers and sisters.

TAPPER: As for Abdul, time is running out. He's still trying to make it to the U.S., waiting in a different country and worried he'll be sent back to Afghanistan, where he may end up paying the ultimate price.

ABDUL: If I am going to be sent back to Afghanistan, it's clear I will be killed.

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TAPPER: Jake Tapper, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: During on unannounced visit to Afghanistan last week, the U.S. secretary of state, Antony Blinken, was asked about the visa issue. He said he's committed to working on it.

Well, the son of Chad's slain president has taken over as head of state and commander of the armed forces. This happened Wednesday.

He's promised to return to civilian government, with elections within 18 months. Soldiers, though, were deployed to secure the capital a day after

President Idriss Deby died during a visit with troops battling a rebel militia in the north.

Those rebels are now threatening to attack the capital, and that has Chad's steadfast ally, France, watching developments with concern. CNN's David McKenzie explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVIE MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Right after he was announced the winner of a disputed election for a sixth term, the former general and military tactician traveled north to the front line to visit troops battling a rebel push on the capitol. On state TV, an army spokesman saying he died of his injuries.

His son is now in charge.

AZEM BERMENDAO AGOUNA, CHADIAN ARMY SPOKESMAN (through translator): The transitional military council reassuring the Chadian people that all provisions have been taken to assure the peace, the security, and the republican order. Long lived 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 controversial, ally to Paris and Washington.

The U.S. military has trained Chadian special forces and depended on its highly-regarded, 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. That's where he got his own military training before seizing power in 1990.

France uses Chad as a base for Operation Barkhane. Thousands of troops strong, it's key to fighting al-Qaeda and insurgencies in the region. France's military has twice stepped in to stop attempted rebel takeovers of the capitol during Deby's rule, even as the president's reputation faltered domestically, accused of corruption and political oppression.

On Tuesday, the French president said France had lost a brave friend.

(on camera): A journalist in N'Djamena told us the situation in the capital is largely calm, but the power vacuum created by the death of Deby could provide new impetus to rebels groups that are trying to take over.

David McKenzie, CNN, Johannesburg.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Frigid temperatures and vineyards, it's a bad combination, and in France, the race to save those grapes from dying on the vine when we return. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: A recent cold snap in France has impacted at least half of the country's wine producers. Now desperate and inventive efforts are underway to try and save those precious grapes. CNN's Jim Bittermann reports.

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JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a sunny afternoon in Meursault, France. And in the nearby burgundy vineyards, this would normally be the time of year when wine makers here would be doing some last-minute clipping of their vines and looking forward to a great vintage.

Not this year, and not for Thiebault Huber.

THIEBAULT HUBER, WINE MAKER IN BURGUNDY: The impact is huge.

BITTERMANN: Like so many other wine producers here, Hubert expects that only 30 percent of his vines will produce grape bunches this year, after a warm in March brought out the tiny buds, but sub- freezing temperatures killed many of them off right after Easter.

HUBER: On the plants like these, we could have 10, between eight and 12 little bunches. We will probably have only two or three bunches per -- per vine. The buds just break, just open a little bit, and then we have this kind of frost, a little bit of snow. And so actually, it's the disaster.

BITTERMANN: There is no doubt in Huber's mind that the early flowering, following days of freezing temperatures are the result of climate change.

HUBER: We have more period, like, frost like this. We have a huge period with very high temperature, and there is a lot of dry periods.

BITTERMANN: In the high value vineyards around here, the nights have been lit up with fires, as the vintners tried everything they could think of to overcome the freeze -- smoke pots, to even helicopters -- to increase the flow of air around the vines.

About the only thing that works somewhat, seemed counterintuitive. If the vines were sprayed with water early enough, before the buds flowered, they became encapsulated in ice, which ironically, can protect them later.

Nonetheless, the losses are expected to be huge, in the billions of euros. The French agricultural minister called it the greatest agricultural catastrophe in the 21st century.

What's made this situation so catastrophic for France is that this climate accident, as some people are calling it, has affected not just the vineyards of Burgundy, but grape-growing areas right across the country.

What's more, it's also had a devastating effect on fruit production.

(voice-over): Not far away from Huber's vineyards, Alain Duruz looks over his cherry trees in dismay. He estimates the warm spell, followed by the freeze, took out 98 percent of his harvest this year.

ALAIN DURUZ, FRUIT PRODUCER IN BURGUNDY (through translator): Are you counting? There are just two trees in all the orchard that escaped.

BITTERMANN: And when Duruz gives his nearby plum trees a shake, it's the same story. The dead blossoms, which were meant to be fruit, fall like snow.

The government has promised more than a billion euros in aid to the fruit and wine producers, but like Duruz and Huber, many here are skeptical that it will be enough when losses have been estimated as high as 3 and a half billion euros.

What's more, there could be more losses to come.

Back in the Burgundy vineyards, Huber knows there could be freezing temperatures right up until mid-May.

BITTERMANN: What happens if you get another freeze?

HUBER: We don't want to hear this, but we know that we could have frost until middle of May, unfortunately.

BITTERMANN: Jim Bittermann, CNN, Meursault, France.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm john Vause. Please stay with us. I'll be back at the top of the hour. In the meantime, WORLD SPORT is up next.

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