Ethiopia Insight posted on 2 April 2020 a news analysis titled "Why Ethiopia Rejected the U.S.-drafted GERD Deal."
Ethiopia rejected the draft U.S.-Egypt agreement concerning the fill rate and subsequent water release from the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) because it was designed to help ensure implementation of the 1959 agreement, which allocated 55.5 billion cubic meters of Nile water to Egypt even during periods of severe drought in the region. During these periods the Nile might not be able to provide that amount of water, which would require Ethiopia to drain the reservoir behind the GERD to meet a treaty commitment that Ethiopia was never part of and, without the existence of the GERD, has occurred in the past.