Index: libs/locale/src/icu/icu_backend.cpp
===================================================================
--- libs/locale/src/icu/icu_backend.cpp	(revision 83318)
+++ libs/locale/src/icu/icu_backend.cpp	(working copy)
@@ -17,7 +17,25 @@
 #include <iterator>
 
 #include <unicode/ucnv.h>
+#include <unicode/uclean.h>
 
+class backend_icu
+{
+    public:
+        backend_icu()
+        {
+            UErrorCode error = U_ZERO_ERROR;
+            u_init(&error);
+        }
+        
+        ~backend_icu()
+        {
+            u_cleanup();
+        }
+};
+
+static backend_icu backend;
+
 namespace boost {
 namespace locale {
 namespace impl_icu {