2004 Equatorial Guinea coup d'état attempt the US of backing the plot, but the Pentagon denies supporting it. US officials say it was Greg Wales who made all the approaches to them. Greg Wales, a London-based property dealer, is alleged to have raised $500,000. Equatorial Guinea official sources claim that in November 2003 , when the plot was in its early stages, an Old Etonian mercenary, Simon Mann, paid Mr Wales about $8,000. Mr Wales denies any involvement in the coup. Theresa Whelan, a member of the Bush administration in charge of African affairs at the Pentagon, twice met a London-based businessman, Greg Wales, in Washington
Politics of Equatorial Guinea an attempt to molify his critics, Obiang announced a new cabinet, giving minor portfolios to some people identified by the government as opposition figures. Since President Obiang has been constrained only by a need to maintain a consensus among his advisers and political supporters in the Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea, most of whom are drawn from the Nguema family in Mongomo, part of the Esangu subclan of the Fang in the eastern part of Río Muni. Alleged coup attempts in 1981 and 1983 raised little sympathy among the populace. Under Obiang, schools reopened and primary education expanded, public utilities