UIGE

formerly Carmona, town, northwestern Angola. Uge grew from a small market centre in 1945 to become Angola's major centre for coffee production in the 1950s. The Portuguese designated Uge a city in 1956. Its prosperity was short-lived, however, as recurrent fighting between the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA), one of three preindependence guerrilla movements, and Portuguese forces from 1961 to 1974 resulted in heightened instability in the locality. Portuguese settlers abandoned the town in 197475 prior to Angolan independence. In 1976 the town, which had become the headquarters of the FNLA, was captured by forces of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), the preindependence guerrilla movement that later became the national government. Attempts at reviving coffee production in the locality since then have had only limited success. Pop. (1985 est.) 69,484.