2004 Equatorial Guinea coup d'état attempt five calls to Sir Mark Thatcher in the days after the failed coup. On 13 January 2005, Mark Thatcher, in a South African court, pleaded guilty to helping finance a coup plot in Equatorial Guinea. South African police were able to prove that Mr Thatcher had transferred about US$285,000 to the mercenaries that were to execute the operation and had met and talked frequently to them prior to the coup attempt. After pleading guilty, he was given a four-year suspended sentence and a fine of about US$560,000. Simon Mann paid $500,000 (£281,000) towards the plot, according to a list of
Convergence for Social Democracy (Equatorial Guinea) Convergence for Social Democracy (Equatorial Guinea) Convergence for Social Democracy (, CPDS) is the only opposition party in Equatorial Guinea. The CPDS is headed by a President and a Secretary-General, who are currently Santiago Obama Ndong and Andres Esono Ondo, respectively. The Secretary-General is defined as the leader of the party, while the President is assigned the role of a moderator. After operating clandestinely and publishing its newspaper "La Verdad" ("The Truth") in the early 1990s, the CPDS applied for legal recognition in November 1992 and was given legal recognition in February 1993.The party was led and founded by Secundino