THE permanent secretary for mines and energy, Retired Colonel Christian Katsande, has been banned from attending a summit in the United States – becoming the first victim of travel restrictions being implemented by the United States government against President Robert Mugabe and his officials. The US has also deferred a training programme that had been scheduled for November in Zimbabwe to train people at the country’s Technology Transfer Centre. US officials decided last month that Katsande be excluded from the Corporate Council on Africa 3rd Biennial US-Africa Business summit this month. Contacted for comment yesterday, the present minister of mines and energy, Edward Chindori-Chininga said he had heard nothing about the issue. The US Senate has approved the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act 2001 which seeks to formalise sanctions against Zimbabwe and impose travel restrictions on President Mugabe, his ministers, service chiefs and their families. – The Standard