Gornja Maoča is a village in northeastern
Bosnia
Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...
that territorially belongs to the Srebrenik municipality, Tuzla Canton in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is in the Majevic mountain range, located directly south from the village of Maoča. The name of the village can be translated as "Upper Maoča".
Geography
Gornja Maoča is a mountainous village located in
Majevica
Majevica ( sr-cyrl, Мајевица, ) is a low mountain range in northeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated between Semberija, Posavina, and Tuzla Canton.
Its highest peak is Stolice, some 16 kilometres east of Tuzla, in the far southe ...
, a low mountain range in northeastern Bosnia.
History
The village was formerly known as Karavlasi ( sr-cyr, Каравласи). In 1944 a massacre that was operated by members of the
resulted in the killing of 25 people. The victims were of
Boyash
Boyash or ''Bayash'' (endonym: ''Bȯjáṡ'', Romanian: ''Băieși'', Hungarian: ''Beás'', Slovak: ''Bojáš'', South Slavic: ''Bojaši'') refers to a Romani ethnic group living in Romania, southern Hungary, northeastern and northwestern ...
descent.
After the
Bosnian War
The Bosnian War ( sh, Rat u Bosni i Hercegovini / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. The war is commonly seen as having started ...
in the 1990s it was populated by foreign and domestic
Wahhabists, the majority of whom participated in the war as members of the
Bosnian mujahideen
Bosnian mujahideen ( bs, Bosanski mudžahedini), also called ''El Mudžahid'' (from ar, مجاهد, ''mujāhid''), were foreign Muslim volunteers who fought on the Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) side during the 1992–95 Bosnian War. They first arriv ...
(''El Mudžahid'').
Alleged links to extremism
After being the focus of a lot of local and international media attention, allegations of extremist links and potential terrorist hideout and logistical base and "launching pad", issue culminated in winter 2010.
Upon visit in November 2009
FBI Director
The Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation is the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a United States' federal law enforcement agency, and is responsible for its day-to-day operations. The FBI Director is appointed for a single ...
Robert Mueller
Robert Swan Mueller III (; born August 7, 1944) is an American lawyer and government official who served as the sixth director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2001 to 2013.
A graduate of Princeton University and New York ...
conveyed his and US government concerns about Wahhabis in the village of Gornja Maoča to Bosnia and Herzegovina security chiefs. On 2 February 2010 village was raided
by "hundreds" of police officers from 11 different law enforcement agencies. Action lasted for ten hours and resulted with "seven people" being arrested and the seizure of "some arms and ammunition", several cell phones and computers were also seized, as well as some audio and video material.
By taking into account extent of the operation, and media frenzy around the village and consequent raid itself, the result was deemed unimpressive: as U.S. diplomats familiar with the case put it afterwards, and according to
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...
(RFE/RL):
"(B)ased on the stuff police are pulling out of there, the Salafis from Gornja Maoca do seem a bit like amateurs."
However, following these events around Gornja Maoča the German government, until then adamant in opposing
visa
Visa most commonly refers to:
*Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company
** Visa Debit card issued by the above company
** Visa Electron, a debit card
** Visa Plus, an interbank network
*Travel visa, a document that allows ...
liberalization for Bosnia, expressed its readiness to intensify assistance to government and security agencies, so that following
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...
report can be positive and Bosnia granted a non-visa regime.
See also
*
Ošve
*
Donja Bočinja
Donja Bočinja ( sr-cyrl, Доња Бочиња) is a village in the municipality of Maglaj in Zenica-Doboj Canton, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Population
Prior to the Bosnian War, the village had Serb majority ...
References
;Notes
;News reports
*
External links
The VICE Guide to the Balkans - Part 5B92 - News - Bosnian police arrest Wahhabi leader
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gornja Maoca
Populated places in Srebrenik
Wahhabism