Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said on Saturday that the Egypt is committed to protecting its rights in the Nile River waters. El-Sisi's statements, read on his Twitter official account, were in reference to tripartite meetings between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) held in Khartoum. "I closely followed up on the outcome of the tripartite meeting between irrigation ministers of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia which discussed the file of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, and which did not result in any positive development. I affirm that the Egyptian state, with all its institutions, is committed to protecting Egypt's rights in the Nile waters," El-Sisi wrote. El-Sisi added that "the Egyptian state will continue to take the necessary measures on the political level and within the framework of the international law to protect these rights". "The eternal Nile will continue to strongly run linking the South to the North with the bond of history and geography," El-Sisi added. Earlier Saturday, the spokesperson of the Egypt's Ministry of Water Recourses and Irrigation stated that the negotiations in Khartoum of the GERD reached a dead end due to the Ethiopian side being "intransigent". The spokesperson said that Ethiopia presented a new proposal during Khartoum's meetings which represented "a setback to all the principles agreed upon for the filling and operation process of the dam" and that, as a result, Egypt has called for international mediation to "mediate between the three countries and help reach a fair and balanced agreement without prejudice against any party."
