Archie Msiza is slumped on a wooden chair at the Highveld hospital, which sits in the middle of a flat, prairie-like landscape pock-marked only by colliery shafts. The youthful 42-year-old mineworker has agreed to talk but is still nervous his name might be disclosed in the newspaper. He has not admitted even to his friends or colleagues he has the sexually transmitted disease because he fears discrimination.
ExxonMobil, the world’s largest stock-listed oil corporation, will run into trouble at its annual meeting this week.
A British campaign group called on governments last week to clamp down on big oil companies, as it provided evidence of the damaging impact of the industry on the global economy.
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/ 27 January 2003
One of the most popular themes on the placards of anti-war demonstrators across the US and Europe is that the looming confrontation is primarily about oil. The US and British dismiss such a charge, and instead argue that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has to be dealt with.