Panelists testifying at a Senate subcommittee hearing this week strongly suggested a major US policy shift on South Sudan, with one expert saying expelling the war-torn country’s diplomats is the kind of bold action needed if Washington wants to send a clear message to Juba.

Only three of the nine members of the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on Africa showed up for the hearing. A perturbed Senator Cory Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey, noted the lack of White House and State Department officials present at Wednesday’s hearing.

“It’s my perspective that every month we wait for this administration to craft a policy and a strategy to deal with this issue is an absence of American leadership,” Booker said.

Booker added that the monthlong congressional recess starting soon will further exacerbate efforts to address the political, economic and humanitarian chaos in South Sudan.

Booker also noted that key US diplomatic positions remain vacant, such as assistant secretary of state for African affairs, and a US special envoy for Sudan and South Sudan.

Aly Verjee, a visiting expert at the United States Institute of Peace, agreed.

“The US ambassador in Juba [Mary Catherine Phee] is the senior official. And everybody knows that whatever she says does not come with any support of this administration because of the absences. She can say the United States does not accept this cease-fire violation and she can say that you must implement the peace agreement, but everybody in South Sudan knows there is nothing that backs her up,” Verjee said.

Joshua Meservey, a senior policy analyst for Africa and the Middle East at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, said aggressive symbolic gestures like expelling South Sudanese diplomats from the United States could send a strong message to Juba and challenge President Salva Kiir’s leadership.

“The Kiir regime, every time it sits across the table from a diplomat from the United States or Europe, derives a certain amount of legitimacy. No matter the statements we put out to the contrary, the mere fact that we speak to him and treat him as if he is part of the solution suggests that he is part of the solution. He is not. He is a profound part of the problem,” Meservey said.

Payton Knopf, coordinator for the South Sudan Senior Working Group at the United States Institute of Peace, said the Kiir administration is unquestionably an illegitimate regime.

But Gordon Buay, deputy head of mission at the South Sudan Embassy in Washington, who attended the hearing, dismissed all statements questioning Kiir’s legitimacy.

“For somebody to say that President Salva Kiir, who was elected with 98 percent of vote of the people of South Sudan, is not legitimate, that person is from another planet,” Buay said.

The ongoing conflict has had dramatic consequences on South Sudan’s humanitarian situation. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs asked for $1.6 billion for its response plan in South Sudan. Fifty-four percent of that amount has been met to assist in what has been called the world’s fastest-growing refugee crisis.

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Heavy fighting between South Sudan’s warring factions has erupted in Upper Nile’s historic city, Maiwut, forcing civilians to flee their homes, both rebel and government military officials have said.

The disclosure comes as both factions claim control of Maiwut, with government forces saying they have captured the town and that they are heading towards the rebel headquarters, Pagak.

A senior military officer who prefers anonymity at Bilpham headquarters in Juba said the national army (SPLA) is now in full control of Maiwut.

“The rebels of Riek Machar are dislodged from Maiwut. Maiwut is now under our full control,” the officer said from Juba.

However, SPLA-IO 5^th Division Commander Maj. General Khor Chuol Giet downplays government’s claim, saying some Juba-backed soldiers were instructed to go to Maiwut through bushes and declared its capture.

“We were in the middle of fighting with government forces around Wichluakjak when they suddenly surprised civilians in the city. We are fully aware of the situation. Our unit in Maiwut is engaging them,” Maj. Gen. Khor said.

He asserted that capturing Maiwut will never bring peace, adding that the armed opposition is prepared to wage what he described as ‘an all-out war’ in Upper Nile and warned of ‘second Somalia in East Africa’.

The South Sudan News Agency has also learned through a confidential source that the First Vice President Taban Deng Gai is not happy about the recent news about the revitalization of the August 2015 peace agreement.

Gai wants the government to control both Maiwut and Pagak so that he can tell the international community that he is now in full control of the SPLM/A-IO, according to the source.

But a senior rebel official calls Gai’s plan ‘desperate’.

“This is a desperate move by Taban. His dream to become the leader of the SPLM/A-IO will not happen,” Simon Keah Yiey said.

“Taban should know that Bentiu has been under government control for at least a year and yet no peace has been achieved,” he explained.

Attempts by the South Sudan News Agency to reach the office of the SPLA-IO Spokesman Brig. Gen. William Gatjiath Deng went unanswered.

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