of Economic Co-ordination and Planning, in the Lumumba Government. However, he became increasing disenchanted with the established political groups during the crisis. Although remaining a Catholic, his views became increasingly radical over the course of his career and embraced Marxism and Maoism as a route towards agrarian socialism in the Congo. Verhaegen began researching political movements in the Congo in the aftermath of independence and formulated the idea of "immediate history" (histoire immédiate) which mixed anthropological, historical, and sociological approaches to current events on an extensive documentary basis. He was involved in collecting documents published by contemporary political actors in the Congo and intended his work to be interacting with political actors. He wrote important studies on the Kwilu rebellion (196364), the nationalist leader Patrice Lumumba and the Alliance des Bakongo (ABAKO) political party. Together with Jules Gérard-Libois and , Verhaegen began involved in the new "African section" of the (Centre de recherche et d'information socio-politiques, CRISP) in Belgium which published important series of documents on contemporary Congolese politics. This was disbanded in 1971 and Verhaegen became the director of the African Studies and Documentation Centre (Centre d’Études et de Documentation africaines, CEDAF) which replaced it. He directed its journal series Cahiers du CEDAF which was superseded by Cahiers africains. He also led the creation of a historical research section at the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren, Belgium. Verhaegen continued to teach at Lovanium but became critical of the "colonial" values he believed the institution embodied. He moved to Kisangani in 1971 as part of the consolidation of university education by the Mobutu regime under the National University of Zaire (Université nationale du Zaïre, UNAZA). He founded the Interdisciplinary Research Centre for the Development of Education (Centre de Recherches interdisciplinaires pour le Développement de l’Éducation, CRIDE) and headed the university's social science section at Kisangani, later the University of Kisangani. He left the Congo in 1987 to return to academic roles in Belgium. He retired in 1990. A festschrift in Verhaegen's honour entitled Le Zaïre à l'épreuve de l'histoire immédiate was published in 1993, and included contributions by Immanuel Wallerstein and Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch. Retirement On 24 September 2001, Verhaegen was interrogated by the Belgian Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry regarding his role in the assassination of Lumumba. A note dated 12 September 1960 by the secretary of Belgian Minister without Portfolio Raymond Scheyven described the allocation of secret funds