ADDIS ABABA: Despite government claims Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi was in “good health” last week, the 57-year-old strongman was reported to have died on Tuesday morning by the country's state television, ending months of speculation over is whereabouts. Already, there is a sense of uncertainty in the country over the death, and questions surrounding the future of Ethiopia continue to come tumbling in by the hour as analysts and citizens alike attempt to make sense of the news. “I just don't know what to think right now,” one Addis Ababa resident told Bikyamasr.com as citizen took to watching the television together in order to gain any new information on their leader's passing. Zenawi was born on May 8, 1955 and came to power in the early 1990s as prime minister, holding this position until Tuesday. He ruled the country with an iron grip, and the past few months has shown his strength over the country was not one that all Ethiopians enjoyed. While they appreciated his efforts to go against Egypt and Sudan on Nile River water issues, his crackdown on freedoms and numerous arrests on opposition critics led to a growing angst and anger in the country. According to Opride.com, “the former rebel-leader dropped out of Addis Ababa University's Medical School, where he studied for two years, to join the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front in 1974. He has been the chairman of both the TPLF and the ruling coalition, Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front, since 1989.” Meles died Monday just before midnight after contracting an infection, state TV announced Tuesday. Hailemariam Desalegn, who was appointed deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs in 2010, is now in charge of the Cabinet, state TV said.