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
Bahá'í Faith in Equatorial Guinea citizens of Equatorial Guinea were among those to gather in Yaounde, Cameroon, in a conference called for by the Universal House of Justice in 2008. In 2001 Operation World estimated 0.38%, or 1,720 people were Bahá'ís—and growing at an annual rate of +4.2%. In 2004 there were four local assemblies in Equatorial Guinea. The Association of Religion Data Archives (relying mostly on the World Christian Encyclopedia) estimated nearly 3,552, or 0.5% of the national population, Bahá'ís in 2005. Bahá'í Faith in Equatorial Guinea The Bahá'í Faith in Equatorial Guinea begins after `Abdu'l-Bahá wrote letters encouraging taking the religion to Africa