Long story in Swahili a drag (5)
I believe the answer is:
iliad
'long story' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'in swahili a drag' is the wordplay.
'in' indicates a hidden word.
'ILIAD' is hidden in the letters of 'swahili a drag'.
(Other definitions for iliad that I've seen before include "Great poem by Homer" , "Long Homeric poem" , "Homer Trojan war epic" , "Homer's epic account of the Trojan war" , "Homer's ancient Greek epic" .)