diff --git a/textproc/libxml2/Makefile b/textproc/libxml2/Makefile
index 98b4e29344f4..7828988bd0ee 100644
--- a/textproc/libxml2/Makefile
+++ b/textproc/libxml2/Makefile
@@ -26,10 +26,13 @@ USE_LDCONFIG=	yes
 INSTALL_TARGET=	install-strip
 TEST_TARGET=	check
 
+LIB_DEPENDS=	libicutu.so:devel/icu
+CFLAGS+=	-I${PREFIX}/include
+
 CONFIGURE_ARGS?=--with-iconv=${ICONV_PREFIX} \
 		--with-html-dir=${PREFIX}/share/doc \
 		--with-html-subdir=${PORTNAME} \
-		--without-icu \
+		--with-icu \
 		--with-lzma=/usr \
 		--without-python
 
@@ -77,5 +80,7 @@ post-patch:
 .if ${CHOSEN_COMPILER_TYPE} == gcc
 	@${REINPLACE_CMD} -e 's/ -Wno-array-bounds//' ${WRKSRC}/configure
 .endif
+## add the includedir to pkgconf cflags, needed for the icu includes
+	@${REINPLACE_CMD} -e 's|^Cflags: |CFlags: -I$${includedir} |' ${WRKSRC}/libxml-*.pc.in
 
 .include <bsd.port.post.mk>