diff --git a/MozillaThunderbird.changes b/MozillaThunderbird.changes
index 796485f..fde5269 100644
--- a/MozillaThunderbird.changes
+++ b/MozillaThunderbird.changes
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ Mon Apr 17 12:43:48 UTC 2017 - wr@rosenauer.org
     external browser
   * addon blocklist updates
 - enable ALSA for systems w/o PA
+- require libffi explicitely to fix PPC64LE build where a system
+  library is required
 
 -------------------------------------------------------------------
 Sat Mar 18 21:06:01 UTC 2017 - wr@rosenauer.org
diff --git a/MozillaThunderbird.spec b/MozillaThunderbird.spec
index 5327fe0..9368ae1 100644
--- a/MozillaThunderbird.spec
+++ b/MozillaThunderbird.spec
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ BuildRequires:  xorg-x11-libXt-devel
 BuildRequires:  xz
 BuildRequires:  yasm
 BuildRequires:  zip
+BuildRequires:  pkgconfig(libffi)
 BuildRequires:  pkgconfig(libpulse)
 %if %{with mozilla_tb_valgrind}
 BuildRequires:  pkgconfig(valgrind)