diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index e9e96b6a12..d86a876977 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+2007-03-02  Edward Hervey  <edward@fluendo.com>
+
+	* gst/__init__.py:
+	Import libxml2 (if available) at import time with GLOBAL and LAZY flags.
+	Fixes #398567
+
 2007-03-01  Edward Hervey  <edward@fluendo.com>
 
 	* gst/__init__.py:
diff --git a/gst/__init__.py b/gst/__init__.py
index a87da9cef6..2c983805ff 100644
--- a/gst/__init__.py
+++ b/gst/__init__.py
@@ -112,7 +112,11 @@ if RTLD_GLOBAL != -1 and RTLD_LAZY != -1:
     sys.setdlopenflags(RTLD_LAZY | RTLD_GLOBAL)
     from _gst import *
     import interfaces
-
+    try:
+        import libxml2
+    except:
+        pass
+    
 version = get_gst_version
 
 sys.setdlopenflags(dlsave)