A bloody border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia was expected to hijack talks between Southeast Asian leaders trying boost regional security and ease economic disparities across borders.

Leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) met in the Indonesian capital on Saturday, to talk about their long-stated goal of building a competitive and highly integrated economic region.
That will mean everything from improving road, rail and other transportation links to finding ways to guarantee food security and overcome vast energy challenges.
But regional security concerns such as the potentially oil-rich Spratly islands claimed by China and several ASEAN nations - a dispute that worries the U.S. as well - and terrorism following the death of Osama bin Laden was likely to steal the show.
Other issues expected to be addressed include the scourge of human trafficking in the region, food security, and East Timor's membership bid.
Another hot topic at the two-day summit was expected to be Myanmar's request to chair the association in 2014. Some countries say it is ready, but others argue that the government has not yet done enough to improve human rights.
The most pressing issue though, is renewed fighting along the border of Thailand and Cambodia, which has claimed nearly 20 lives in the last two weeks, sending tens of thousands of people fleeing their homes.
Mediating the dispute
Meeting on Friday ahead of the ASEAN leaders' weekend summit, several foreign ministers urged both countries to settle the issue peacefully, citing the regional bloc's bedrock principle of settling disputes amicably.
As current chair of ASEAN, Indonesia has been trying to help mediate the dispute over small parcels of land claimed by both countries, but has so far made little headway.
Hun Sen, Cambodia's prime minister, said he wants ASEAN to oversee a permanent ceasefire, according to Sri Thamrong, his top adviser.
However, Thailand still believes the problem should be settled bilaterally or through the International Court of Justice.
Albert del Rosario, Philippine foreign secretary, told reporters that during the ministerial meeting, he raised the need for ASEAN to end a nine-year disagreement with China that has prevented both sides from completing the guidelines of a 2002 accord aimed at preventing armed conflicts over the disputed Spratly Islands.
The guidelines would allow China and claimant countries to pursue joint development projects to ease tensions in the disputed South China Sea region, he said.
Four ASEAN members - Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam - are among the claimants. They have agreed to pursue their claim as a bloc through ASEAN, but China has disagreed, preferring to discuss the dispute bilaterally.
Meanwhile, Thein Sein, Myanmar's president, who heads the military-backed party that overwhelmingly won general elections late last year, will ask for the right to chair ASEAN in 2014. The regional grouping is supposed to rotate its chair every year between member countries.
U.S.-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said ASEAN, already struggling for credibility, would become the “laughing stock of intergovernmental forums” if it gave the chair to such a pariah state.
(Source: Agencies)