The announcement of plans to establish a diamond “syndicate” along the lines of OPEC by Africa’s diamond producing countries met with reservations from several member states amid concerns about its objectives. %% Government sources in South Africa and Botswana said in response to the announcement made by DRC’s deputy minister of mines Victor Kasongo in an interview on Bloomberg, that the so-called African Diamond Producers Association (ADPA), failed to meet the different objectives of diamond producing countries on the African continent. %% The report, cited Kasongo as saying: “We will establish the OPEC of diamonds. We will form united diamond policies, so that we have more power in the international arena.” %% Recently, the governments in South Africa, Botswana and Namibia, have geared their legislation towards local cutting and polishing as well as jewelry manufacturing to generate more employment in the diamond sector. %% This, said a government source in South Africa, could be a key objective for an organization like ADPA. %% “If ADPA is working together on cutting and polishing, jewelry production and training of people, then it will work, if it is built on pricing it won’t,” said the government source. %% In Botswana, a government official who asked not to be named, said the main focus of African producing countries should be on driving the Kimberley Process – aimed at curbing the trade of diamonds used to financing wars. %% “We should not undermine the Kimberley Process, which is more urgent. In addition, most producing countries have different ways of marketing their diamonds,” he said. %% The 12-member Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, influences oil prices by regulating the production over 40% of the world's supply. %% According to the report, the diamond association will formally be constituted at a meeting of the countries' mining ministers in Luanda on April 30.