Manama: Almost 20 months after it engaged in a massive mediation to solve the Qatar crisis, Kuwait said that there was no possibility for a solution in sight.

“There is no solution on the horizon, or a suggestion for a solution or the possibility of containing the Gulf dispute,” Deputy Foreign Minister Khalid Al Jarallah said on Monday evening.

“The crisis has not ended and media campaigns have not stopped, and therefore, the pain from the enduring media campaigns persists.”

Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt severed their diplomatic, trade and travel relations with Qatar after they accused it of failing to comply with resolutions it approved in the Riyadh Agreement by funding terrorism and supporting extremist elements.

The four countries issued a 13-demand list and asked Qatar to respond to them. However, Doha rejected the accusations and dismissed the demands, resulting in a stalemate that has not been resolved despite mediation efforts led by Kuwait.

The Quartet has maintained that Doha should change its course of action and address the issues instead of seeking assistance from other countries to resolve the crisis.

Saudi officials have often said they were ready to wait for decades for Qatar to make the appropriate moves towards a settlement of the crisis.

Addressing the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit in Riyadh in December, Kuwait’s Emir Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmad called for an end to the malicious media campaign that “has reached limits that eroded values and principles, planted the seeds of strife and discord among people and destroyed everything they built together”.

“I am confident that you share with me the importance of responding to this call by stopping the media campaigns. All of us [should] create an atmosphere that will inevitably lead to enhanced opportunities in our ability to contain the dimensions of today’s dispute,” he said.

However, seven weeks after the emir’s passionate call, there are no signs the war of narratives and “malicious” media campaigns will abate soon.

On January 1, and looking at the new year ahead, UAE State Minister for Cabinet Affairs Dr Anwar Gargash tweeted that the boycott of Qatar by four Arab countries would continue in 2019.

“In my opinion, the boycott of Qatar is continuing in 2019 because it is linked to changes that are necessary in Doha’s destructive orientations,” he posted.

“Qatar will also continue to fail in breaking up the measures against it despite the high cost it is paying. The Qatari stance is driven by the former emir, and through it, he is defending a legacy that has caused Doha’s predicament.”