This is a really good question. I must admit that I did not know about any of this until I saw this question of yours right just now. From what I can tell, here is what you need to understand.

BACKGROUND

Albania had been a poor nation for a long time. Ever since gaining her present-day independence when the [Treaty of London] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_London_(1913) ended the [First Balkan War] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Balkan_War) in 1913, the country has experienced various events that have largely ruined it. Such examples include the [Serbian army's retreat through her territory during World War One] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serbian_army%27s_retreat_through_Albania) and [being invaded and conquered by Italy] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_invasion_of_Albania) shortly before the outbreak of World War Two in April 1939. Events like these were enormously damaging to Albania and they were also largely responsible for identifying her on the world stage as a country that tends to experience some of the worst of whatever is happening around her. The [Cold War] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War) helped to change the situation in Albania. However, it did not improve anything. Conditions of poverty and squalor were long-lasting and a lack of diplomatic influence fueled a sentiment that nothing would improve if other countries could not be bothered to help out. Albania had subsequently begun to align herself with [communism] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communism) because (a) she was tantalizingly close to the east and (b) many Albanians were not even remotely fond of the west since they were still able to remember their country being basically raped by Italy in 1939. Communism did not serve to improve anything within the country and it can be seen as an even more detrimental course of action than capitalism in hindsight. Corruption became more rampant and commonplace than usual in Albania and the country was still largely disregarded since she was just seen as another nation aligned with one of the two sides in the Cold War. This was even true among Eastern-block countries because there was not much strategic importance in [Illyria] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illyria) compared to other places. To make matters worse, this lack of regard for Albania was further compounded because [Yugoslavia] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugoslavia) had a sizable population of Albanians in [Kosovo] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosovo) that [Josip Broz Tito] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josip_Broz_Tito), the then-Yugoslav leader, saw as a potential threat to his concept of [brotherhood and unity] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brotherhood_and_unity) among the other ethnic groups in the country -- partly because Albanians are not Slavic like the others. All of this served to prolong and even worsen the period of perpetual misery that the communist government in Albania was initially created to cease. Sporadic incidents of surreptitious corruption and relative violence would continue for the next two to three decades. The Cold War began to wind down in the latter half of the 1980's decade. In 1989, there were [various revolutions] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutions_of_1989) that had erupted in both central and eastern Europe and these revolutions were inevitable and logical consequences of [Glasnot and Perestroka] (http://www.coldwar.org/articles/80s/glasnostandperestroika.asp) that [Mikhail Gorbachev] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Gorbachev) instituted to reform the [Soviet Union] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union) after taking power in 1985. These two policies would ironically serve to destroy the Soviet Union. With the end of the Cold War in 1991, Albania eventually ditched communism around the same time. The country held her [first ever truly free elections] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albanian_parliamentary_election,_1992) one year later in 1992. The [Democratic Party of Albania] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_of_Albania) won the largest blocks of seat in the legislature and [Sali Berisha ] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sali_Berisha) became the first president of Albania. Under Berisha, the country adopted a [market economy] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_economy) through a [capitalist] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalism) system. This system was heavily predicated on [pyramid schemes] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_scheme) that became increasingly evident and decreasingly liked by the Albanian public in general. Albania [renewed its government] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albanian_parliamentary_election,_1996) once more in 1996. Since crony capitalism through [bribery] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bribery) and [Ponzi schemes] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponzi_scheme) epitomized governmental authority and political discourse in the first term of the democratic-republican government, the [Socialist Party of Albania] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_Party_of_Albania) saw a heightened amount of public support relative to the previous election cycle. Despite this, though, the Democratic Party was still victorious -- in spite of diminished support from 1992. The Socialist Party claimed that the elections were quite frankly rigged and this accusation was further cemented when it was stated that they were marred by "a number of irregularities and technical shortcomings" from international observers. The 1996 elections "did not meet international standards for free and fair elections" nor did they meet Albanian law. Aside from the Democratic Party, who denied this vehemently out of self-interest, most other political parties opted to boycott another round of voting. These boycotts from the other parties were essentially responsible for giving the second victory to the Democrats that year. Considering that most Albanians had little to no faith in the Democratic Party in trying to solve government corruption and they were sick and tired the decades of poverty and mistreatment were not being solved, they revolted.

CRISIS

The [Albanian Rebellion] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albanian_Civil_War) is comparatively brief. However, it did feature a fair amount of events. The rebellion had officially begun when Albanian citizens took to the streets in January 1997. These initial protests happened when Albanians lost a collective sum of $1.2 billion and their protests were aimed at trying to get the government to reimburse them. This became routine for tens of thousands of people by February. At the beginning of March, protests were so widespread that Prime Minister [Aleksandër Meksi] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksand%C3%ABr_Meksi) felt compelled to resign. His resignation would subsequently cause Berisha to declare a [state of emergency] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_emergency) the following day. Nine days later, the Socialist Party managed to gain a victory when Berisha appointed its leader, [Bashkim Fino] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bashkim_Fino), as the new prime minister. This action did manage to pacify the violence in the north of Albania to the extent that the protesters would disperse. In other places, though, the government was unable to quell the violence as the utilization of military force was unsuccessful. By 13 March, two days after Fino was appointed to serve as the Albanian prime minister, all major population centers were engulfed in perpetual demonstrations of violent protests. The situation had become so serve that other countries began to evacuate their citizens. Germany evacuated her citizens in [Operation Libelle] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Libelle) -- making this the first time since World War Two that German soldiers fired shots in actual combat. The United States followed suit as well with [Operation Silver Wake] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Silver_Wake) and Operation Kosmas that same month. The [United Nations Security Council] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council) implemented [Resolution 1101] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council_Resolution_1101) that authorized the military intervention of seven thousand personnel with the intention of trying to restore order in Albania. Part of this was done through aid as a peacekeeping effort in [Operation Alba] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Alba) that [Italy] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italy) led. Outside of foreign intervention, Albanians had also tried to restore order by gaining control over the government. Likewise, the government fought back. This featured events like a [hunger strike] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunger_strike) at the [University of Vlorë] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Vlor%C3%AB) and the opening of local armories -- the latter of which was ended because of an explosion that killed twenty-two people in a village with a population of two hundred.

OUTCOME

Sectarian violence and various atrocities had continued until June 1997. That month saw a [snap election] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snap_election) for Parliament through which the Socialist Party had finally won and this was widespread. In spite of previously vowing to remain out of politics, many members were apart of the "Rescue Committee" that worked to stop the disorder diligently. A referendum was also apart of this snap cycle meant to decide the form of governance that Albania would have. Voters chose to have a republican government over a monarchical government by a landslide margin of 65 percent to 35 percent. The country was finally starting to head down the track of progress.

I hope that this helps! :)

Not to discourage further discussion, but /u/keyilan covered this recently in this thread