diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index e5b75af9b0..dc0d280d16 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
 /libports/include/freetype
 /libports/include/ft2build.h
 /libports/include/iconv/
+/libports/include/icu/
 /libports/include/jbig2dec
 /libports/include/libc-amd64/
 /libports/include/libc-arm/
diff --git a/libports/lib/import/import-icu.mk b/libports/lib/import/import-icu.mk
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..46fec1a53b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libports/lib/import/import-icu.mk
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+REP_INC_DIR += include/icu/common
+REP_INC_DIR += include/icu/i18n
diff --git a/libports/lib/mk/icu.mk b/libports/lib/mk/icu.mk
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..54dec6f559
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libports/lib/mk/icu.mk
@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+include $(REP_DIR)/lib/import/import-icu.mk
+
+ICU_DIR = $(REP_DIR)/contrib/icu
+
+
+# copy-pasted from $(ICU_DIR)/source/common/Makefile.in and renamed OBJECTS to ICU_COMMON_OBJECTS
+  
+ICU_COMMON_OBJECTS = errorcode.o putil.o umath.o utypes.o uinvchar.o umutex.o ucln_cmn.o \
+uinit.o uobject.o cmemory.o charstr.o \
+udata.o ucmndata.o udatamem.o umapfile.o udataswp.o ucol_swp.o utrace.o \
+uhash.o uhash_us.o uenum.o ustrenum.o uvector.o ustack.o uvectr32.o uvectr64.o \
+ucnv.o ucnv_bld.o ucnv_cnv.o ucnv_io.o ucnv_cb.o ucnv_err.o ucnvlat1.o \
+ucnv_u7.o ucnv_u8.o ucnv_u16.o ucnv_u32.o ucnvscsu.o ucnvbocu.o \
+ucnv_ext.o ucnvmbcs.o ucnv2022.o ucnvhz.o ucnv_lmb.o ucnvisci.o ucnvdisp.o ucnv_set.o ucnv_ct.o \
+uresbund.o ures_cnv.o uresdata.o resbund.o resbund_cnv.o \
+messagepattern.o ucat.o locmap.o uloc.o locid.o locutil.o locavailable.o locdispnames.o loclikely.o locresdata.o \
+bytestream.o stringpiece.o \
+stringtriebuilder.o bytestriebuilder.o \
+bytestrie.o bytestrieiterator.o \
+ucharstrie.o ucharstriebuilder.o ucharstrieiterator.o \
+dictionarydata.o \
+appendable.o ustr_cnv.o unistr_cnv.o unistr.o unistr_case.o unistr_props.o \
+utf_impl.o ustring.o ustrcase.o ucasemap.o ucasemap_titlecase_brkiter.o cstring.o ustrfmt.o ustrtrns.o ustr_wcs.o utext.o \
+unistr_case_locale.o ustrcase_locale.o unistr_titlecase_brkiter.o ustr_titlecase_brkiter.o \
+normalizer2impl.o normalizer2.o filterednormalizer2.o normlzr.o unorm.o unormcmp.o unorm_it.o \
+chariter.o schriter.o uchriter.o uiter.o \
+patternprops.o uchar.o uprops.o ucase.o propname.o ubidi_props.o ubidi.o ubidiwrt.o ubidiln.o ushape.o \
+uscript.o uscript_props.o usc_impl.o unames.o \
+utrie.o utrie2.o utrie2_builder.o bmpset.o unisetspan.o uset_props.o uniset_props.o uniset_closure.o uset.o uniset.o usetiter.o ruleiter.o caniter.o unifilt.o unifunct.o \
+uarrsort.o brkiter.o ubrk.o brkeng.o dictbe.o \
+rbbi.o rbbidata.o rbbinode.o rbbirb.o rbbiscan.o rbbisetb.o rbbistbl.o rbbitblb.o \
+serv.o servnotf.o servls.o servlk.o servlkf.o servrbf.o servslkf.o \
+uidna.o usprep.o uts46.o punycode.o \
+util.o util_props.o parsepos.o locbased.o cwchar.o wintz.o mutex.o dtintrv.o ucnvsel.o propsvec.o \
+ulist.o uloc_tag.o icudataver.o icuplug.o listformatter.o
+
+SRC_C += $(filter $(ICU_COMMON_OBJECTS:.o=.c), $(notdir $(wildcard $(ICU_DIR)/source/common/*.c)))
+SRC_C += $(filter $(ICU_I18N_OBJECTS:.o=.c), $(notdir $(wildcard $(ICU_DIR)/source/i18n/*.c)))
+
+
+# copy-pasted from $(ICU_DIR)/source/i18n/Makefile.in and renamed OBJECTS to ICU_I18N_OBJECTS
+
+ICU_I18N_OBJECTS = ucln_in.o \
+fmtable.o format.o msgfmt.o umsg.o numfmt.o unum.o decimfmt.o dcfmtsym.o \
+ucurr.o digitlst.o fmtable_cnv.o \
+choicfmt.o datefmt.o smpdtfmt.o reldtfmt.o dtfmtsym.o udat.o dtptngen.o udatpg.o \
+nfrs.o nfrule.o nfsubs.o rbnf.o numsys.o ucsdet.o \
+ucal.o calendar.o gregocal.o timezone.o simpletz.o olsontz.o \
+astro.o taiwncal.o buddhcal.o persncal.o islamcal.o japancal.o gregoimp.o hebrwcal.o \
+indiancal.o chnsecal.o cecal.o coptccal.o dangical.o ethpccal.o \
+coleitr.o coll.o tblcoll.o sortkey.o bocsu.o ucoleitr.o \
+ucol.o ucol_res.o ucol_bld.o ucol_sit.o ucol_tok.o ucol_wgt.o ucol_cnt.o ucol_elm.o \
+strmatch.o usearch.o search.o stsearch.o \
+translit.o utrans.o esctrn.o unesctrn.o funcrepl.o strrepl.o tridpars.o \
+cpdtrans.o rbt.o rbt_data.o rbt_pars.o rbt_rule.o rbt_set.o \
+nultrans.o remtrans.o casetrn.o titletrn.o tolowtrn.o toupptrn.o anytrans.o \
+name2uni.o uni2name.o nortrans.o quant.o transreg.o brktrans.o \
+regexcmp.o rematch.o repattrn.o regexst.o regextxt.o regeximp.o uregex.o uregexc.o \
+ulocdata.o measfmt.o currfmt.o curramt.o currunit.o measure.o utmscale.o \
+csdetect.o csmatch.o csr2022.o csrecog.o csrmbcs.o csrsbcs.o csrucode.o csrutf8.o inputext.o \
+wintzimpl.o windtfmt.o winnmfmt.o basictz.o dtrule.o rbtz.o tzrule.o tztrans.o vtzone.o zonemeta.o \
+upluralrules.o plurrule.o plurfmt.o selfmt.o dtitvfmt.o dtitvinf.o udateintervalformat.o \
+tmunit.o tmutamt.o tmutfmt.o currpinf.o \
+uspoof.o uspoof_impl.o uspoof_build.o uspoof_conf.o uspoof_wsconf.o decfmtst.o smpdtfst.o \
+ztrans.o zrule.o vzone.o fphdlimp.o fpositer.o locdspnm.o \
+decNumber.o decContext.o alphaindex.o tznames.o tznames_impl.o tzgnames.o \
+tzfmt.o compactdecimalformat.o gender.o region.o scriptset.o identifier_info.o
+
+SRC_CC += $(filter $(ICU_COMMON_OBJECTS:.o=.cpp), $(notdir $(wildcard $(ICU_DIR)/source/common/*.cpp)))
+SRC_CC += $(filter $(ICU_I18N_OBJECTS:.o=.cpp), $(notdir $(wildcard $(ICU_DIR)/source/i18n/*.cpp)))
+
+
+# provide the binary file 'icudt51l.dat' as symbol 'icudt51_dat'
+
+ICU_DAT             = icudt51l.dat
+ICU_DAT_SYMBOL_NAME = icudt51_dat
+
+SRC_BIN += $(ICU_DAT)
+
+binary_$(ICU_DAT).o : $(ICU_DAT)
+	$(MSG_CONVERT)$@
+	$(VERBOSE)echo ".global $(ICU_DAT_SYMBOL_NAME); .section .rodata; .align 4; $(ICU_DAT_SYMBOL_NAME):; .incbin \"$<\"" |\
+	          $(AS) $(AS_OPT) -f -o $@ -
+
+
+CC_OPT += -DU_COMMON_IMPLEMENTATION -DU_I18N_IMPLEMENTATION
+
+CC_WARN += -Wno-deprecated-declarations
+
+LIBS = stdcxx pthread
+
+vpath % $(ICU_DIR)/source/common
+vpath % $(ICU_DIR)/source/i18n
+vpath % $(ICU_DIR)/source/data/in
+
+SHARED_LIB = yes
diff --git a/libports/ports/icu.mk b/libports/ports/icu.mk
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..826f50cef2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libports/ports/icu.mk
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+ICU_VERSION = 51.2
+ICU         = icu
+ICU_TGZ     = $(ICU)4c-51_2-src.tgz
+ICU_URL     = http://download.icu-project.org/files/icu4c/$(ICU_VERSION)/$(ICU_TGZ)
+ICU_MD5     = 072e501b87065f3a0ca888f1b5165709
+
+#
+# Interface to top-level prepare Makefile
+#
+PORTS += $(ICU)
+
+prepare-icu: $(CONTRIB_DIR)/$(ICU) include/icu
+
+$(CONTRIB_DIR)/$(ICU):clean-icu
+
+#
+# Port-specific local rules
+#
+$(DOWNLOAD_DIR)/$(ICU_TGZ):
+	$(VERBOSE)wget -c -P $(DOWNLOAD_DIR) $(ICU_URL) && touch $@
+
+$(DOWNLOAD_DIR)/$(ICU_TGZ).verified: $(DOWNLOAD_DIR)/$(ICU_TGZ)
+	$(VERBOSE)$(HASHVERIFIER) $(DOWNLOAD_DIR)/$(ICU_TGZ) $(ICU_MD5) md5
+	$(VERBOSE)touch $@
+
+$(CONTRIB_DIR)/$(ICU): $(DOWNLOAD_DIR)/$(ICU_TGZ).verified
+	$(VERBOSE)tar xfz $(<:.verified=) -C $(CONTRIB_DIR) && touch $@
+
+include/icu:
+	$(VERBOSE)mkdir -p $@
+	ln -sf ../../$(CONTRIB_DIR)/$(ICU)/source/common $@/common
+	ln -sf ../../$(CONTRIB_DIR)/$(ICU)/source/i18n $@/i18n
+
+clean-icu:
+	$(VERBOSE)rm -rf include/icu
+	$(VERBOSE)rm -rf $(CONTRIB_DIR)/$(ICU)