Western leaders attacked Zimbabwe's president for participating in this week's U.N. summit on the global food crisis while his people are going hungry. Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said it was "obscene" that the man "who has presided over the starvation of his people" would be attending the three-day conference. "Robert Mugabe turning up to a conference dealing with food security or food issues is, in my view, frankly, obscene," Smith told reporters in Perth. The summit, hosted by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, begins Tuesday. Mugabe is blamed for the economic collapse of a country once considered a regional breadbasket. Zimbabweans increasingly are unable to afford food and other essentials with agriculture paralyzed by land reform and the world's highest rate of inflation. "President Mugabe is personally responsible for the absurdly high food prices and grinding poverty in Zimbabwe," Bert Koenders, the Dutch minister for overseas development, said in a statement. His ministry said Dutch delegates would take part in the conference, despite their objection to Mugabe's attendance. "We will not allow the millions of people who can't afford a proper meal to be held hostage by President Mugabe," Koenders said. "We will ignore him and do all we can to tackle the food crisis with concrete measures." Mugabe was staying at a posh Rome hotel on Via Veneto a day before the start of the summit. He did not respond to reporters' shouted questions as he left the hotel Monday afternoon. Mugabe normally is subject to European Union travel restrictions that prevent him and more than 100 other political figures in Zimbabwe from setting foot in on EU territory. The travel restrictions, along with other sanctions, were imposed by the EU in 2002 because of Zimbabwe's poor record on human rights and renewed in 2007. However, the sanctions do not apply for the United Nations, a Food and Agriculture Organization spokesman said. The "sanctions don't apply. Just as (Cuban) President (Fidel) Castro used to regularly travel to the United States to attend U.N. General Assembly" sessions, Mugabe is free to attend the Rome summit, said FAO spokesman Nick Parsons. Mugabe also was allowed to attend an EU-Africa summit in Lisbon, Portugal, in December after other African leaders made clear they would stay away unless he was allowed to attend. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown stayed home in protest. Brown said Britain's international development secretary, Douglas Alexander, would attend the food summit in Rome but would not greet Mugabe or hold talks with him. "We think it's particularly unfortunate that he's decided to attend this meeting, given what he's done in relation to contributing difficulties on food supply in Zimbabwe," government spokesman Michael Ellam said in London. About 40 nations are sending heads of government or state to lead their delegations at the summit. "The Zimbabwe delegation is going, and it happens to be headed by the president," as are the delegations from France, Spain and Brazil, Parsons said. Zimbabwean Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga said Mugabe had been invited -- and that it is important for Zimbabwe to be represented. Mugabe attended a similar meeting in Rome in 2002. "He is the current president of Zimbabwe and he will be the president for the next five years," Matonga said. Mugabe's visit is his first official overseas trip since he finished second in a March 29 presidential race. It comes amid accusations of a government crackdown on the opposition in the weeks before a June 27 presidential runoff. On Monday, Zimbabwe's state-run Herald newspaper reported the arrests of at least 70 opposition supporters accused of political violence. Opposition leaders say more than 50 supporters have been killed. Source: CNN