diff --git a/lib/Basics/Utf8Helper.cpp b/lib/Basics/Utf8Helper.cpp
index 4f4c441b92..291f1486e4 100644
--- a/lib/Basics/Utf8Helper.cpp
+++ b/lib/Basics/Utf8Helper.cpp
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 #include "Utf8Helper.h"
 
 #ifdef TRI_HAVE_ICU
-#include "BasicsC/utf8-helper.h"
+#include "unicode/normalizer2.h"
 #else
 #include "string.h"
 #endif
@@ -160,7 +160,7 @@ v8::Handle<v8::Value> Utf8Helper::normalize (v8::Handle<v8::Value> obj) {
   if (str_len > 0) {
 #ifdef TRI_HAVE_ICU  
     UErrorCode erroCode = U_ZERO_ERROR;
-    const Normalizer2* normalizer = Normalizer2::getNFCInstance(erroCode);
+    const Normalizer2* normalizer = Normalizer2::getInstance(NULL, "nfc", UNORM2_COMPOSE ,erroCode);
     
     if (U_FAILURE(erroCode)) {
       LOGGER_ERROR << "error in Normalizer2::getNFCInstance(erroCode): " << u_errorName(erroCode);
diff --git a/m4/external.icu b/m4/external.icu
index fa450c86ac..2f3a827965 100644
--- a/m4/external.icu
+++ b/m4/external.icu
@@ -36,8 +36,8 @@ if test "x$tr_ICU" = xyes;  then
 
   if $ICU_CONFIG --version > /dev/null 2>&1; then
     ICU_CPPFLAGS="$($ICU_CONFIG --cppflags)"
-    ICU_LDFLAGS="$($ICU_CONFIG --ldflags)"
-    ICU_LIBS=""
+    ICU_LDFLAGS=""
+    ICU_LIBS="$($ICU_CONFIG --ldflags)"
     TRI_ICU_VERSION="$($ICU_CONFIG --version)"
     AC_MSG_RESULT([yes])
   else