KHARTOUM, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Officials have imposed a state of emergency and overnight curfew in Sudan's Red Sea town of Port Sudan after tribal rioting in the African country's main oil export outlet, newspapers said on Monday.

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Governor Hatim al-Wasila also banned the carrying of arms, knives and swords after the head of the local Beni Amir tribe was stabbed to death by a member of the rival Hadandawi tribe on Sunday, the independent al-Rai al-Aam paper reported.

Police from around the state were called in to impose order, it said. The paper did not say how long the curfew or state of emergency would last.

Following Sunday's murder, rioting protesters threw stones at people and cars in Port Sudan, some 700 km (450 miles) northwest of Khartoum, causing some injuries, a police spokesman told the newspaper.

An energy ministry official said the clashes caused no disruption to oil exports. Sudan has exported oil since 1999.

The Beni Amir and Hadandawi tribes, the main ethnic groups in the Red Sea and Kassala states of resource-scarce eastern Sudan, are traditional rivals.