World Notes Sudan

For three days last week, thousands of demonstrators roamed the streets of Khartoum, Sudan's capital, looting shops, burning gasoline stations and trashing automobiles. Police and troops used riot sticks, tear gas and, on occasion, gunfire to quell the disturbances. At least six people were killed, more than 2,000 arrested; several thousand people, mainly squatters and vagrants, were trucked out of the city. The violence erupted the day before Sudanese President Gaafar Nimeiri departed on a one-week visit to the U.S. that includes an April 1 meeting with President Reagan.

Western diplomats in Khartoum discounted government claims that the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood was involved in the riots; Nimeiri, wary of its growing power, had recently cracked down on that group. Instead, said one Western official, "people appeared to be venting their frustrations at recent price rises in gasoline and bread." The increases followed Nimeiri's decision to end subsidies on some basic commodities, part of an economic austerity plan demanded by the International Monetary Fund. Nimeiri is expected to cite last week's unrest in asking Reagan to ease U.S. demands for economic reforms and to release $181 million in U.S. assistance.