(JUBA) - More than 16 million people, in six African nations, are currently facing food shortages, that range from stressed to emergency levels of food insecurity, a recent report from Famine Early Warning Systems Network shows.

The affected countries include Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Djibouti and Ethiopia, with poor rains, conflict, high food prices and, in some cases, inability to access humanitarian assistance, seen as driving factors.

However, since it got independence over a year ago, South Sudan has had a murky relationship with neighbouring Sudan, often characterized by clashes, counter accusation and each blaming the other for working to allegedly destabilize the other’s regime.

Also, a poor harvest, macroeconomic instability and widespread conflict in South Sudan could see more than 4.7 million people, almost half of the country’s population, at risk of food shortage; a million of whom could face severe consequences, according to a United Nations food security assessment.