The Sudan Open Archive offers free digital access to knowledge about Sudan. The Archive is an expanding, full‐text database of historical and contemporary documents, with a linked analytical guide to internet resources. It is being developed with institutional partners in the north and south of the country. It is available online and in free‐standing CD and DVD formats.

The first phase of development of the Archive has involved the digitisation of several hundred technical reports on aid and development (from the start of Operation Lifeline Sudan in 1989 up to the present) and a library of historical and contemporary literature on environmental issues. Reports on local peace processes are currently being added. These will be followed by ethnographic and historical literature, documents in Arabic, and grammars and dictionaries of Sudanese languages.

Most of the documents in the Archive have not previously been available in digital form. Reports now available online include The Southern Sudan Vulnerability Study (1999 edition), The Jonglei Field Officers Handbook (1998) and Towards a Baseline: Best Estimates of Social Indicators for Southern Sudan (2004). Also included in the Archive are the official, signed texts of more recent documents of political and economic significance such as The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (2005) and The Abyei Boundaries Commission Report (2005). The Geography & Environment section includes the multi-volume The Flowering Plants of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan (1950-56) and back issues of Sudan Wildlife and Sport.

See the ABOUT page of this site for rights and acknowledgments. Please download a prospectus here.

Users can conduct full-text word searches across the Archive, using the SEARCH THE ARCHIVE box at the top left of each page. Type the search term(s) in the box and press return. Use double quotes to search for a phrase or word sequence. Detailed searches can be made with ADVANCED SEARCH. Word searches within documents can be made using SEARCH THE DOCUMENT. A left-click opens a page of a document to full-screen view; a second left-click returns the page to normal view. There is optional search-term HIGHLIGHTING and THUMBNAIL page display. The BROWSE ARCHIVE button shows documents ordered under subject, date or author categories. All documents may be printed, or saved as PDFs.

Please inform the Co‐ordinator of any error or malfunction on the site.

The Rift Valley Institute seeks partners ― in Sudan and beyond ― for expansion of the Archive. Suggestions for new material and offers of sponsorship for individual documents or collections are also welcome. Contact the Co-ordinator for further details.

The Archive is part of a regional knowledge network under development by the Rift Valley Institute, with local and international partners. A planned e‐mail service will provide critical summaries and full‐text versions of key reports as they become available. Please write for further information.