This looks like a Wikipedia editor having a joke. This editor's other contributions include adding information about Riek Machar's wife "Fudwan", as well as adding the city of "Fudwan" to the list of largest cities in South Sudan.

The Nubian desert exists in the north-east of what is now the Repubic of Sudan, between the Nile and the Red Sea. In 1609, the area would have been within the sphere of influence of the Funj sultanate.

Since I am a square, I looked up information about the Funj sultanate (also called the Sennar sultanate) in the early 17th century in Medieval Africa by Oliver and Atmore, Cambridge History of Africa volume IV and the chapter "Medieval and Post-Medieval states in the Nile Valley" in the Oxford Handbook of African Archaeology. None of those make any reference to an Ann Sandstrom, nor was their any mention of a European presence in the 17th century. Cambridge History offers this information about the period:

In November 1606, the Funj king, 'Abd al-Qadir II, was driven from his throne after a reign of less than three years. According to 'Abdallabi tradition, he was expelled by 'Ajib because of his religious innovations, i.e. his Islamic unorthodoxy. He had already, it seems, accepted the suzerainty of the Ethiopian emperor, and on his dethrone­ ment he found asylum at Chelga, an enclave on the caravan route from Sennar to Gondar where the Funj had a customs post. Funj power revived under'Adlan I, the brother and successor of 'Abd al-Qadir, who defeated and killed 'Ajib at the battle of Karkuj, probably in 1611-12.

before going on to mention a conflict with Ethiopia from 1617-19.

So, we have information about goings on and political intrigues and wars in this period, but zero reference to a European presence. I'll call this a gag by a bored Wikipedia editor.