Egypt announced the failure of the fourth and final round of negotiations on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), which was held on Monday and Tuesday in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. Cairo said, "In light of these Ethiopian positions, the negotiating paths have ended." The Egyptian Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation indicated that the meeting held within the course of the GERD negotiations between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, which was previously launched within the framework of the three countries' agreement to accelerate the completion of the agreement on the rules for filling and operating the dam within four months, did not produce any results. In a statement following the meeting on Tuesday, that the meeting failed due to "the continuation of the same Ethiopian positions refusing over the past years to adopt any compromise technical and legal solutions that would secure the interests of the three countries, and Ethiopia's persistence in reneging on the understandings reached that meet its declared interests." Egypt said that it has become clear that the Ethiopian side is determined to continue exploiting the negotiating cover to establish the status quo on the ground, and to negotiate to extract an instrument of approval from the two downstream countries on absolute Ethiopian control of the Blue Nile in isolation from international law. Egypt confirmed that it will closely monitor the process of filling and operating the dam, and that Cairo reserves its right guaranteed under international conventions to defend its water and national security in the event it is exposed to harm.
