Cambodians Celebrate Peace Accord : Festival: The local community commemorates the treaty that will place their native land under United Nations’ administration for 2 years.

As they marked last week’s international peace initiative with a colorful celebration of music and folk dancing, members of Orange County’s Cambodian population said Sunday that they are cautiously optimistic that the agreement could end more than two decades of bloody conflict in their homeland.

“We welcome it, and if there is real peace, we will be celebrating for years to come,” said Heat C. Leao, health coordinator for Cambodian Family Inc., a local social service agency. “We are trying to welcome the agreement not only here, but all across the country.”

At least 300 Cambodian immigrants and their families turned out for several hours Sunday afternoon to celebrate the agreement that will place their homeland under the administration of the United Nations until general elections can be held in 1993.

Representatives from 19 countries, including the United States, signed the peace treaty in Paris Wednesday, ending 21 years of internal conflict.

Under the agreement, U.N. officials and blue-beret military forces will be responsible for monitoring a cease-fire, disarming the population, removing mines from the countryside, repatriating refugees and assuming direct administration of the country’s bureaucracy.

U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker III said during the signing that the United States hopes to use the treaty as a basis for renewing normal relations with all nations in Indochina, including Vietnam.

Sunday’s celebration in Orange County was held at Bishop Manor, a residential area that is the hub of Orange County’s Cambodian community. The event, hosted by Cambodian Family Inc., the Neighborhood Center, and the Orange County Cambodian Buddhist Organization, was one of a half-dozen national celebrations held over the weekend to mark the historic pact.

“This is the first breakthrough after so many long years of suffering,” said Chea Sok Lim, who helped coordinate the celebration’s display of folk dancing. “We should be cautious, but we hope this is peace.”

Beneath banners heralding the agreement, Sunday’s event began with a colorful procession around Bishop Manor’s recreation center, which was festooned with red and blue balloons. Leading the marchers were four young women in gold skirts carrying red, blue, and gold umbrellas--a Cambodian symbol for peace and protection.

After a Buddhist service, speakers praised the coalition of nations for the agreement and urged the United States to continue diplomatic efforts to make sure freedom is established in Cambodia.

Following the short round of speeches, the Cambodian Family Youth Dance Group performed two traditional folk dances. The four girls in the troupe wore gold and purple skirts and pink blouses. The five boys wore purple pants and blue T-shirts with the Cambodian alphabet printed on the back.

Breaking from thousands of years of Khmer culture, they finished their routine to songs by American rapper M.C. Hammer. One of them was “Can’t Touch This.”

“I am very optimistic,” said Peter Chen, who helped organize the celebration. “For the first time there is an effort of a lot of countries to make it happen. With the help of the United States and the United Nations, there will be a major push to make peace a reality.”

More than a million people are believed to have perished during Cambodia’s internal conflict, which began when Prince Norodom Sihanouk was overthrown by a U.S.-backed coup in 1970 and Gen. Lon Nol proclaimed the Khmer Republic. But the worst came during the rule of the Khmer Rouge.

Between April, 1975, when it defeated the U.S.-backed government forces, and early January 1979, when it fell to invading Vietnamese forces, the Khmer Rouge conducted a reign of genocidal terror that left hundreds of thousands dead.

Since then, the Khmer Rouge and the Khmer People’s National Liberation Front formed the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea, with Prince Norodom Sihanouk as president.

“I am hopeful, but I want to see if the Khmer Rouge can be trusted,” said Sam Srey, a board member for Cambodia Family Inc. “They have worked for the Vietnamese and Communist China. I also want to see if Cambodia can elect its own government. If Vietnam and China get involved, there won’t be a real peace.”

Although the Khmer Rouge has claimed recently to have embraced democracy and endorsed free-market economies, its presence on the Supreme National Council has been widely cited as the main flaw of the peace agreement. Human rights organizations have warned of a Khmer Rouge secret agenda to take over the country by posing as a legitimate political party.