April 8, 1985

The new military ruler of the Sudan met separately today with the senior American, Egyptian and Saudi Arabian diplomats in Khartoum and reassured them he would keep the Sudan on a pro-Western course, State Department officials said. On his first day in office after ousting President Gaafar el-Nimeiry, Gen. Siwar el-Dahab summoned David H. Shinn, the charge d'affaires of the United States Embassy in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital. General Dahab ''expressed interest in the maintenance of continued good relations with the United States and appreciation for the assistance the United States has provided the Sudan in recent years,'' said Thomas Krajeski, a State Department spokesman. Disclosure Is Unusual Usually, the United States does not divulge the substance of diplomatic discussions. The rapidity with which Mr. Shinn's conversation with General Dahab was made public underscored an American effort to demonstrate public support for the new regime.

Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the Soviet leader, said today that he was prepared to hold a summit meeting with President Reagan and announced a moratorium on the deployment of Soviet medium-range missiles in Europe. He called on the United States to respond with a similar freeze. In his first major foreign policy statement since taking office a month ago, Mr. Gorbachev said the Soviet Union, ''starting with this day,'' would halt deployment of its SS-20 medium- range missiles, as well as ''other reply measures in Europe.'' He said the moratorium would hold until November, when Moscow would see whether the United States had responded by stopping deployment of Pershing 2 and cruise missiles in the nations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

The sky was streaked pink over the East River and the streets were empty as far as the eye could see when the Rev. Frank Rafter celebrated the Easter miracle yesterday morning from the 86th-floor observatory of the Empire State Building. The 6 A.M. service, attended by parishioners from the Richmond Hill Baptist Church in Queens and the Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan, began with brisk winds whipping the red-and-gold choir robes, and clouds obscuring the dawn. But the sun broke through in time for the final strains of ''I Serve a Risen Saviour,'' and 25 voices rose as one, more than 1,000 feet above the silent city: He lives, He lives, salvation to impart! You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart. Frank Manriquez, a security guard at the Empire State Building, volunteered to report to work four hours early, as he had in years past, and was rewarded with a chorus of ''Happy Birthday'' midway through the service. ''If more people did things like this,'' said Mr. Manriquez, who will turn 60 today, ''we'd have a better world.''

The nation's senior military leaders have closed ranks in opposition to proposals that would dramatically reorganize the American military establishment. The leaders, Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger, the secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force and the five members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, rejected assertions that the command structure is paralyzed by rivalries among the services, leading to wasteful spending and poor combat readiness. They made their positions known in letters to the Senate and House Armed Services committees. But a somewhat different viewpoint emerged from letters written by the nine operational commanders of combat forces. Some said their authority over buying weapons and supplies, training troops and preparing battle plans had been inhibited by the power of the individual services.

Imports are at record levels in many industries, hitting jobs and profits and spurring widespread demands for protection. Makers of everything from shoes and copper wire to paint brushes and castor oil are actively seeking higher tariffs or import ceilings to preserve their markets. Industries that have already won protection, such as textiles and steel, want more. Many have become interested in proposals before the Senate Finance Committee and House Ways and Means Committee to levy up to a 20 percent tax on all imports, a so-called import surcharge. The tax would raise prices of imports, thus chilling demand for them.