The Banyamulenge, the term historically describing the ethnic Tutsi Rwandans (Banyarwanda) concentrated on the Itombwe Plateau of the province, have been the focus of much controversy. The ambiguous political and social position of the Banyamulenge has been a point of contention in the province in the wake of incursion by fleeing Interahamwe forces responsible for the genocide of Rwandan Tutsis into the Kivu region after the liberation of neighboring Rwanda by the Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front, leading to the Banyamulenge playing a key role in the run-up to the First Congo War in 1996–1997 and Second Congo War of 1998–2003. South Kivu, along with North Kivu, has been the center of the conflict, which followed the Second Congo War.