Equatorial Guinea Obiang Mangue, and other close relatives with powerful positions in the security forces. The tension may be rooted in a power shift arising from the dramatic increase in oil production which has occurred since 1997. In 2004 a plane load of suspected mercenaries was intercepted in Zimbabwe while allegedly on the way to overthrow Obiang. A November 2004 report named Mark Thatcher as a financial backer of the 2004 Equatorial Guinea coup d'état attempt organized by Simon Mann. Various accounts also named the United Kingdom's MI6, the United States' CIA, and Spain as tacit supporters of the coup attempt. Nevertheless,
Christianity in Equatorial Guinea Christianity in Equatorial Guinea Christianity in Equatorial Guinea dates back to pre-independence, when Equatorial Guinea was a colony of Portugal and Spain. Today almost 90% of the population are Christian. The majority are Roman Catholics, though there are also a few thousand Methodists and Presbyterians. Roman Catholicism reached Equatorial Guinea with the Portuguese in the late 15th century. The colony was ceded to Spain in 1778. From the mid-nineteenth-century there were various Protestant missions, such as Baptist missions from the West Indies (in 1841), Primitive Methodists from England, and Presbyterians (in 1850) from the United States. An 1853 concordat between