Yorskov Lhego
His Excellency
Yorskov Lhego | |
|---|---|
 | |
| File:Varanken.png President of the Republic of Oteki | |
| Assumed office 20 January 1988 | |
| Leader | Vang Jun |
| Preceded by | Josef Rabovski |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 26 June 1950 (age 64) Kovdor, Kovdor County, Txotai Prefecture, Shanpei, People's Republic of Namor |
| Alma mater | St. Anthony's Academy |
Yorskov Lhego (born June 26 1950) is the current president of the Otekian government-in-exile. He has served in this position since 1988 after succeeding Josef Rabovski, who founded the government-in-exile.
Biography
Early Life
Lhego was born in June 26, 1950 in the town of Kovdor in Kovdor County, Txotai Prefecture, Autonomous Republic of Shanpei. He was born when Txotai (also known as Oteki) had just been re-incorporated into Namor by the Liberationists. Lhego's father, John Lhego, was an official of the former First Republic of Oteki, which was dissolved after the Namorese entered the region.
He did not participate in the Txotai War; in 1963 his father John was listed as a wanted person by the government for allegedly distributing pamphlets to the neighborhood denouncing Namorese rule and supporting independence for Oteki. As a result, John brought the entire family with him to East Luziyca in the town of Frontiersburg, which at the same did not have a significant Otekian population as it did after the rebellion was put down. Lhego spent the rest of his youth in Frontiersburg and his family kept in touch with several rebel commanders. He studied in Luziyca, received good grades and made it to St. Anthony's Academy, where he studied before graduating.
Government-in-exile
Upon returning to Frontiersburg, the rebellion had been crushed and many Otekians had fled, leading to the creation of a government-in-exile. Lhego worked in the government-in-exile's publicity department, which was responsible for addressing refugees on the government's behalf and spreading anti-Namorese propaganda. In 1979 Lhego was put in charge of the government-in-exile's Refugee Affairs department, responsible for accommodating housing, food and jobs for Otekian refugees.
In 1988, OGIE leader Josef Rabovski stepped down from office due to health concerns, and chose Lhego as his successor. Lhego thus became the leader of the government-in-exile and the independence movement at the age of 38. Once taking office, Lhego electrified exiles and gained a lot of support for himself by proposing the "New Century Plan," which stated that he would aim for Oteki to become independent by the year 2000. The "New Century Plan" became extremely popular and discussed during the 1990s, when Communist governments began collapsing worldwide and the Namorese government, which although wasn't communist, was implementing political reforms. Lhego said in 1992 that "I am more confident than ever that with the Namorese political system aging, Oteki will be free when the new century starts." He offered support to Luziyca in the Third Namo-Luziycan War and hoped Luziyca would counter-attack and take over Oteki, but this did not happen because a ceasefire was signed and the Namorese incursion into Luziyca ended. Lhego quietly shelved the "New Century Plan" as 2000 neared and Namor's control over the region seemed stable. In 2000 he said that "[s]imple geopolitics can tell us that the Namorese occupation cannot last through this century....change will come. The Otekian people must be patient and wait for that change."
Lhego previously supported armed rebellion against the Namorese, including the Knights of Saint Luther which was the most powerful militia group in the independence movement. But in time he began distancing himself from the Knights, which he saw as too difficult to cooperate with. In the aftermath of the June 28 Attacks orchestrated by the Knights, Lhego neither condemned nor condoned the action, instead calling on the "situation to be resolved soon." This earned him and the government-in-exile much criticism from some Diaspora Otekians (who saw him as too weak to support armed resistance) and the Namorese government (which believed Lhego's refusal to condemn the attacks proved he was sponsoring the Knights).