diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index bcb0e5223..c995f36eb 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -166,26 +166,36 @@ AM_CONDITIONAL(HAVE_CAIRO_FT, $have_cairo_ft)
 
 dnl ==========================================================================
 
-PKG_CHECK_MODULES(ICU, icu-uc, have_icu=true, have_icu=false)
-dnl Fallback to icu-config if ICU pkg-config files could not be found
-if test "$have_icu" != "true"; then
-	AC_CHECK_TOOL(ICU_CONFIG, icu-config, no)
-	AC_MSG_CHECKING([for ICU by using icu-config fallback])
-	if test "$ICU_CONFIG" != "no" && "$ICU_CONFIG" --version >/dev/null; then
-		have_icu=true
-		# We don't use --cflags as this gives us a lot of things that we don't
-		# necessarily want, like debugging and optimization flags
-		# See man (1) icu-config for more info.
-		ICU_CFLAGS=`$ICU_CONFIG --cppflags`
-		ICU_LIBS=`$ICU_CONFIG --ldflags-searchpath --ldflags-libsonly`
-		AC_SUBST(ICU_CFLAGS)
-		AC_SUBST(ICU_LIBS)
-		AC_MSG_RESULT([yes])
-	else
-		AC_MSG_RESULT([no])
+AC_ARG_WITH(icu,
+	[AS_HELP_STRING([--with-icu=@<:@yes/no/auto@:>@],
+			[Use ICU @<:@default=auto@:>@])],,
+	[with_icu=auto])
+have_icu=false
+if test "x$with_icu" = "xyes" -o "x$with_icu" = "xauto"; then
+	PKG_CHECK_MODULES(ICU, icu-uc, have_icu=true, have_icu=false)
+
+	dnl Fallback to icu-config if ICU pkg-config files could not be found
+	if test "$have_icu" != "true"; then
+		AC_CHECK_TOOL(ICU_CONFIG, icu-config, no)
+		AC_MSG_CHECKING([for ICU by using icu-config fallback])
+		if test "$ICU_CONFIG" != "no" && "$ICU_CONFIG" --version >/dev/null; then
+			have_icu=true
+			# We don't use --cflags as this gives us a lot of things that we don't
+			# necessarily want, like debugging and optimization flags
+			# See man (1) icu-config for more info.
+			ICU_CFLAGS=`$ICU_CONFIG --cppflags`
+			ICU_LIBS=`$ICU_CONFIG --ldflags-searchpath --ldflags-libsonly`
+			AC_SUBST(ICU_CFLAGS)
+			AC_SUBST(ICU_LIBS)
+			AC_MSG_RESULT([yes])
+		else
+			AC_MSG_RESULT([no])
+		fi
 	fi
 fi
-
+if test "x$with_icu" = "xyes" -a "x$have_icu" != "xtrue"; then
+	AC_MSG_ERROR([icu support requested but icu-uc not found])
+fi
 if $have_icu; then
 	CXXFLAGS="$CXXFLAGS `$PKG_CONFIG --variable=CXXFLAGS icu-uc`"
 	AC_DEFINE(HAVE_ICU, 1, [Have ICU library])